


Ruby Rose and the mystical cardboard box.

by White_Rose_Wolf



Series: The rise of the Faunus [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Child Ruby Rose (RWBY), F/F, F/M, Fluffy Tails, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, Mutilation, Non-Sexual Slavery, Ruby Rose is a Faunus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2019-11-15 22:06:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 72,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18081797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Rose_Wolf/pseuds/White_Rose_Wolf
Summary: Cardboard, surpsingly, isn't very insulating. And it most definitely can't survive a rain storm, poor little Ruby didn't realise that though when she dashed between cars and dived for that magical box for cover. It was only after the box melted into a pitiful mush was she provided by a white haired huntress(in training) with shelter from the rain.A white haired huntress(in training) that was looking for a new Faunus companion after her last companion's "accident" no matter how mangled fleeridden and young that Faunus replacement is.(small warning to anyone who would like to read this story, it's gonna get dark real quick.)





	1. The unfortunate case of Ruby Rose

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfiction to archive of our own, I've had plenty of experience but still... provide feedback, I'm not the one who bites. (Spell checking and Grammer correction is a slow and lengthy process, I'm working on it)

Ruby Rose, she is a young wolf Faunus with big adorable ears a long fluffy tail and two terrifying rows of sharp mouth daggers. Ruby herself wasn't all that sure how she ended up where she was, on the side of the road, her shoes so ripped up she would call them improvised flip flops instead of shoes, covering the bottoms of her feet just enough so they didn't get cut up by the rough tarmac any more then they already were. 

She wasn't sure how long she's been walking for either, all worry of Grimm and unclean men gone from her mind as she screamed in her head the same word over and over again 

**FOOD**  

It was a big driver for this twelve-year-old girl, she's been living off public water fountains for the last week, then again public water fountains didn't tend to like the girl. If you press down too hard you get sprayed in the face, if you press down too weak you can't get anything out! Is there no middle ground?! 

In hindsight there probably is, but Ruby wasn't in the state of mind to be contemplating the different pressures of a water fountain, nor the mood to contemplate the pressure of a water fountain. Why? May you ask? Perhaps it was because she's been walking for a very long time, she didn't know where to go, she didn't know what to do, nothing made any sense at any point. 

Her walk wasn't much of a walk anymore, it was more of a drag, a half-assed attempt of a limp, she's forgoed limping a while ago In favor of just pulling her mangled ankle behind her, it hurt less and that's all that mattered. 

Though as the young Faunus girl dragged herself into a city full of loud cars that terrified the living daylights out of the girl, a thunder storm decided now would be a good time to make Ruby's bad day into a terrible day. Really it was a terrible... week? Month? Year? She wasn't sure, she was pretty sure it might be Tuesday, but she was about as sure that it was Tuesday as she was sure that it was Friday. So about... 1/7 sure ish. 

* **CRASH** *

Ruby suddenly made a sound, the first sound to leave her lips in a while, that was a high pitched squeak, the girl jumped a whole meter off the ground and dashed under cover, though Ruby's lack of understanding of household objects tampered with her judgment in hiding places. Her choice was a dirty cardboard box, instead of the little out cove above a door way that was quickly taken up by a less then friendly stray dog. 

And now Ruby was very glad she had enough energy left in her to growl at the mangey mutt, that stood its ground but didn't bother the cowering wolf again. Ruby was down right exhausted, her feet ached, her legs ached, her hip ached, her everything just ached. her arms where barely covered by her ripped up sleeves, her skirt only covered the places that needed to be covered, and at this point, Ruby didn't really care about her skirt or shirt, all she cared about was her scarf, which was the only thing she's revived in any act of kindness. 

"At least I got you doggy," Ruby said looking towards the dog that had died, "oh" the girl whined sniffling slightly at the fact her violent companion for the last half hour had passed on to doggy heaven. 

After an additional hour of heavy rainfall the trusty cardboard box was proving it's self to be a lot less trusty then initially thought. And Ruby refused to move the hairless dog that had tired to rip off her face from it's final resting place, so she was left trying to find some sort of shelter in a melting box. Though suddenly, the raging rain stopped and she looked around confused at the fact it had stopped, she could still see it falling but she couldn't feel it any more. 

So she looked up to see two white booted feet standing in front of her, she followed the legs up and saw a skirt which became a dress, then a girl. A girl who looked down at her with disgust, a look she wasn't all that unfamiliar with, but Ruby was more focused on the umbrella being held above her.

Ruby had two options, one of them was to ask this good Samaritan what in the remnant she was doing, giving a Faunus of all things her help, and the other was something Faunus where presumed to do.

Steal

So Ruby sole the umbrella with a quick lunge she grabbed the handle, ripped it out of the white-haired girl's hand and sprinted as quickly as her lame foot could carry her down the ally way. 

"Hey!" The girl shouted giving chase to the now very scared Faunus, who quickly wiggled her way though a fence onto a construction site. The little wolf squeaked when The gate was blasted open, and she dived behind a digger and straight into a puddle, soaking her clothes even more then they already were. 

"Nowhere to run now stray," the white-haired girl said encroaching on where the girl was trying to hide when she dug into the mud, but the white-haired girl grabbed onto her leg pulling her out of the puddle and out into the open. 

"I'm sorry!" Ruby quickly squeaked shoving the somehow clean umbrella at the girl who practically hit the young Faunus with it. 

"You insolent little stray! I try and help you and you steal things from me!" The white-haired girl shouted keeping a firm grip on the Faunus who desperately tried to scramble away "do you even know who I am!?" She screeched. 

Ruby, quickly shook her head her ears flattening against her scalp as she whimpered at the loud shout. 

But after Ruby answered the girl's angered expression softened slightly "of course you don't" she growled grabbing the Faunus' arm and dragging the sodden wolf to her feet "Come with me" the girl growled gripping onto the tired Faunus and pulling her along. 

* * *

Ruby had determined that this was officially the worse day of her life, she was wet, muddy, in pain, hungry and She's being dragged by this strange girl who chased her down presumably all for a fancy umbrella. worst of all though? After all this, it was pretty likely that she's just ended her way in the pound for her stupid actions. 

even after this long journey she didn't know where she was going, or who on Remnant is this girl!? She just waltzes into her life for no reason and Ruby was getting very agitated with the brick wall that is this person. She's met all sorts of people on her travels but this person was just a huge butt, even more then that ghastly woman with the  **huge** butt. 

But then eventually they reached a big gate, Ruby was confused but she was quite sure she could probably wiggle under it if push comes to shove "Stay" the white-haired girl commanded towards Ruby. Ruby huffed as she watched the girl take out her scroll and unlock the gate, but she took a chance when it was given to her, so she sped forwards slipping though the small gap in the slowly opening gate before sprinting. 

She didn't know where she was and she will fix that problem once she's out of that huge butt's eye line. But this horrible day just got a whole lot worse when she crashed into a blond woman with a purple cape, and a now muddy shirt "how dare!- who are you!?" She screeched grabbing Ruby's ear making the girl growl at the strange woman. 

"Come back here!" That white haired girl from earlier shouted "professor GoodWitch!" They then said as the widest smile spread across her face that the young faunus has ever seen. "I'm so sorry for her behavior, but I was wondering if I could keep her as my new Faunus" 

"Miss Schnee I should have known" the mean woman called Goodwich sighed dropping the struggling stray on the ground "I'm fully aware that you are still mourning the loss of your last Faunus but that doesn't mean you can just walk into Vale and kidnap a stray" 

"But professor we both know that there isn't any other Faunus left, and if I don't have a Faunus I can't continue my education, I'm already three months behind" 

The professor sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose looking down at the young faunus in disgust "Fine, I'll give you two weeks, get her cleaned up, curb that attitude, and get her registered and then and only then will I even consider that street rat being your partner" she snided making the street rat in question growl. "And you will be held responsible for anything that stray does" 

"I'll ensure she's on her best behavior" the white haired girl smiled grabbing Ruby's arm as the young wolf twisted and turned in her grip, trying to get free. 

 But that wasn't an option when she was dragged into a large building. 

Ruby Rose really wasn't having a good day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the only safe way to pick up a faunus by there tail, is to grip it at the base and pull straight up, otherwise spinal damage will occur.


	2. team wobbily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you'd think a school full of hunters and their over privileged gilded pets would have a proper system in place for people who lost their slav- pet.

14 days till evaluation

* **BANG* *BANG* *BANG***

"Yang Xiao Long I sware if you don't open this door in the next minute I'm ripping it off its hinges and using it to beat you into the ground!" The loud squeaky white-haired girl shouted raising her fist to hit the door again when it was opened by a dark-haired cat faunus timidly. 

"Weiss, please you just had to nock once," the cat said in a low voice looking the young wolf faunus over as she was dragged into the room by the loud girl. 

"Apologies Blake, but you know as much as anyone how much it takes to wake that oaf" the white-haired girl who was apparently called Weiss grunted, reaching up and stroking the cat faunas' ears lightly. Something Ruby would dearly like to happen with her own ears but at the moment it seemed to be an impossibility, Ruby wasn't even that sure if someone could see her ears since her hair felt matted, and in fact her tail was stiff and bearly swaying as she walked, it's fur was covered in a layer of mud water and other dirt. 

"Umm, who's this?" The cat faunus apparently called Blake said looking the young wolf over as she stood on one leg, holding her left foot off the ground. While she looked around the relatively large room, there where two beds on either side, one with messy sheets and another with a well-made bed. A window was stationed between the two beds, a book shelf was to the left and two desks two the right, a door to a bathroom somewhere along that right hand wall, Ruby also noted the two pallets on the floor but chose not to comment, besides it seemed very one-sided, one of the pallets on the floor was covered in different types of toys, cushions, and blankets while the other had a thin white sheet and a pillow. 

"This is our new team member" Weiss declared rather proudly, while none of her company felt proud at all, Ruby was shaking on the spot from terror while the cat was just looking her fellow Faunus over with a wrinkled nose. 

"You look like you just picked her up off the street, and why are you both covered in mud?" The cat asked slinking away slightly as the wolf faunas were dragged around the room by the arm. 

"She wasn't very willing" Weiss shrugged hitting the wolf on the head when she growled, causing her to whine rubbing the spot where she was hit "do not growl at me" she hissed scaring the girl. 

"Weiss, just let her, you're scaring her more then you should" the other Faunus then interrupted, picking her words carefully.

"Ughraa" Weiss groaned as Ruby looked thankful for the dark cat's intervention "fine, whatever, but first I need a shower" the white-haired girl grumbled dragging the young Faunus along with her. Who grabbed onto the doorway to the bathroom with all her might before being overpowered. "You need a shower more then me stray" she growled locking the door.

Ruby scraped her claws down the door trying to get through making Weiss almost roar with anger before she took a long deep breath and then pulled the distressed Faunus away from the door and started to strip them both of their sodden clothes since Ruby refused to remove her clothes. Even then she just sat huddled up in a corner hugging her scarf while glaring at Weiss as the girl showered.

"After this, that scarf is being put in the wash" the white-haired girl shouted making Ruby whine loudly holding onto the red garment tighter. She really didn't want to part with her scarf, for any length of time. " Now, here" the girl commanded opening the shower curtain ever so slightly for Ruby to see where she was pointing to. "Stray, here," she said more firmly causing the young Faunus to growl, carefully folding up her scarf and then clambering into the shower next to the white-haired girl who practically had to hold Ruby down while she washed her hair. 

Ruby wasn't particularly skilled in the reading department but she did spend a few minutes reading the bottle for the "pet shampoo" that was being rubbed into her tail and hair.

"Good girl" the white-haired girl praised and Ruby held still for her, the Faunus girl wasn't all that sure what it was about the praise, but it made her feel happy for some reason, so much so that her tail twitched in her captor's hand while a yellow covered brush was being pulled through it. Ruby noted that the brush the squeaky girl was using was not her own, but someone else's with blond hair and smells like gun powder. Ruby presumed that this person who smells like gun powder was the fourth and final team member. It just made sense. "See, now we can get everything done quicker if you just cooperate"

Ruby just pouted as Ruby didn't like to cooperate with Weiss but she has neither the energy or the social standings to fight with the white-haired girl. Especially if that girl was doing something such as washing her fur. The loud squeaky girl obviously had a lot of experience with Faunus of Ruby's kind, since the girl was being quite considerate. 

Well, in comparison to the way she treated the Faunas before. 

But it was time for the forced shower to be over and Ruby had to admit she hadn't seen her proper hair colour in a long while, even Weiss was shocked when she held up a lock of the silky black hair that slowly faded into a deep crimson, so red that the white-haired girl admitted she thought it was blood from a head injury, this thought also included the young Faunus' large laborious ears that where both topped with tufts of scarlet while the base was a deep charcoal. But the only exception to this rule was the silver-eyed wolf's tail, it was long and a lot fluffier than before, it looked like it was dappled in the garnet. 

She was even dressed! Which was an improvement, even if her clothes were a pure white and her tail was awkwardly hanging out of the elasticated waistband, but the clothes were not falling apart and that was a vast improvement. Ruby did learn that the clothes were provided by the school, oh! And that she's in a school, apparently they don't buy clothes for Faunus since they're very expensive but the plainclothes is for people who don't have a lot of money, which apparently was quite common.

But enough about that, Ruby was far more concerned about what that squeaky loud person was doing with that comb. "Hold still" she quickly instructed and then watching the pup bolt across the room hiding in the corner, her tail fluffing it's self up as she displayed it in anger. 

Surprisingly this annoying example of the human species seemed to understand our distressed faunas' animalistic actions and did the reasonable thing of backing away. Ruby herself peeled back her lips and showed off her impressive set of hound-like teeth, accompanied by a wolfish growl. Even after all this time, her teeth were still a brilliant white, but that might be derived from the fact that her heritage only needs to chew on stuff to clean the gnashers, and brushing was purely for breath. 

"Look, I'm only trying to help," Weiss said creeping closer with the comb in hand like a deadly weapon, and Ruby thought she made it very clear that she didn't like this person, and that this person is not touching her with that toothed grooming stick. But as the Faunas went to dash away again she was grabbed around the neck, being pressed to the tile flooring "nice and easy" she said using the comb to lightly brush the fuzzy fur on the wolf girl's ears. After this careful combing started Ruby relaxed and chose to just lay there on the floor almost limp as the white-haired girl experimented with her fur, which was a nice change of pace from sleeping in trees with squirrels nesting in her hair. "Now, behave, I need to talk with Blake" she instructed letting go of the young wolf's neck and then she left, leaving the girl to sniff around the clean bathroom, but only after rapping her scarf back around her neck.

It really only took five minutes before Weiss came back, followed by that cat from before, this time holding a green box with a white cross on it. Ruby then proceeded to resume her growling while the two organized themselves the cat holding the box while the white-haired girl pounced on the wolf, showing a surprising amount of strength as she held down the struggling girl long enough for the timid cat to slowly approach and tend to the huge bite on the wolf's leg. 

"Weiss be honest, you did just pick her off the street" the cat muttered, keeping her voice very low. 

"What else was I supposed to do? The pounds are all full of spooks and professor GoodWitch already checked with all four academies, there is simply no Faunus left, apart from this girl" she sighed rubbing Ruby's ears "and besides the only Faunus that would be available for a while would be a sort of rodent" 

"Don't let coco hear you, she'll go on a rant" Blake joked as Ruby just listened, feeling a bandage wrap around her foot and ankle, bringing a soothing comfort to the aching that the young wolf used to feel, so much so that she didn't even feel the person sitting on her back. "You've always said you wanted a type of dog Faunus" 

"My farther had a dog Faunus a few years ago until he had him shot for biting one of the butlers." At that comment, both Blake and Ruby gulped until the white-haired girl continued "But I always like him, he used to bring me berries from the gardens when I was studying"Weiss smiled at the fond memories "I guess a wolf is close enough" she shrugged. "Better then my last one" 

"I guess this means you can join us on that field trip in a few days" Blake smiled finishing off the end of the bandage. And finally, the young wolf was allowed to stand up, as there was no longer someone sitting on her back. But it wasn't long until Weiss quickly grabbed hold of the wolf's scarf and pulled it off her neck, much to her complaint.

"Shush! You'll get it back this is the only thing that doesn't look like you dragged it through a stalker pit" she growled holding the red thick cotton garment, before dropping it down a shoot before Ruby could dash to grab it despite her lame foot "do you have a name?" She was then asked, surprising the wolf, and also the cat. 

"Ruby" Ruby answered as the white-haired girl tested it on her tongue. The name was muttered and rolled about for a bit, Blake knew that if Weiss so chose she could probably change the wolf faunus' name, but Ruby didn't know that and she just found it strange. 

"It's a suited name, I guess I can use it" Weiss shrugged before leading the two Faunus back into the main room where there was a blond who smelled like gun powder handing upside down off the back of her bed. 

"Oh hey!" She chirped in greeting, before rubbing her fingers together which summoned the cat who curled up at the girl's side, her long rope-like tail swishing in pleasure as she was petted. "Good job Weiss! You got a new Faunus" she smiled sitting up before holding her head and groaning presumably as all the blood rushed back to where it should be instead of pooling in her head. 

"Yes wuopea," Weiss said very sarcastically, pushing Ruby forwards who stood there awkwardly as she felt lost without her scarf, unlike before when she knew where it was, now all she knows is that her scarf could be being incinerated right now."  
this is Ruby, she knows almost no commands, ruined my favourite Tuesday jacket and I need to register her before the end of the Month " Weiss Introduced. 

Wait, it was Tuesday?! Ruby knew it! She knew it was Tuesday and she was very proud of her self for it. 

"Sounds about right" the blond sighed, stroking the cat methodically "why did you need Blake? Did you trip and smack your head again?" 

"No, Beowolf bite " Weiss shrugged pointing at Ruby's bandaged foot. 

The blond's expression then filtered through different emotions before settling on sympathy "aww you poor thing, did a big mean Grimm hurt you?" She asked as Ruby nodded slightly " well, my name is Yang and if that little prissy butt is being mean ill come and set her straight "she winked, but her expression fell slightly when nobody but the dark haired cat reacted (apart from a fuming Weiss), simply because Ruby didn't find it funny, that was half due to the girl she was criticizing the only person apart from Blake who showed her affection in a long time, and Ruby was currently picturing what a pineapple cat would look like, so she was quite distracted. 

"Hey!" Weiss grumbled before she pulled her new Faunus away from the "brute" and sat her on her bed, effectively pulling her out of her own thoughts "Yang, can you come with me tomorrow while I take her to the vet?" She asked 

"Egh why not, I've got nothing to do anyway"  
she shrugged watching the young faunas feel around the white-haired girl's bed, that is until she noticed she was being stared at and the blond stood up to look the silver-eyed wolf over, but as soon as she touched Ruby's ears the girl growled ferally "hey! no!" she shouted making her then squeak, quickly seeking refuge behind Weiss who was rather shocked, but reached behind her and stroked the girl's short hair." does miss badwitch know about her?" the blond then asked watching her friend comfort her terrified faunus. 

 "yes, In fact, she said I could keep her as my Faunus as long as I register her, which I am going to be doing tomorrow" Weiss smirked, enjoying running her fingers through the furry hairs of the young wolf who was currently glaring at the blond. Ruby wanted to make it clear that she didn't like just anyone petting her ears, sure Weiss was doing it right now, but that was because she was being gentle and... Weiss also put in the effort to groom her, so Ruby figured she could give the white-haired girl her permission to stroke her ears, if only lightly. but this girl, this blond tall person who just walked in and immediately expected her to bow down to the blond as if she was a god, and nothing, no matter how funny and nice she acts is going change that impression that the blond set in Ruby's mind. 

Ruby may be young, she may even be not all that smart, but she knew a bad person from a good person and this blond who smells like gunpowder for some reason, hadn't done anything to make her even consider her as a good person, asides from make a bad joke about Ruby's apparent new owner, who she barely knew and met a few hours before. and then this girl had the audacity to even think that petting her ears would be a good idea? this girl obviously didn't understand anything about faunas apart from the cat, who had prowled off at this point and was doing something that Ruby couldn't see from where she was huddled behind the white-haired girl. 

"you might have to get her a muzzle, she's acting like a feral" Yang then growled flopping down on her bed as Ruby continued to huddle, that is until she was shoved off the bed and onto the floor. 

"I think it's just because she doesn't like you, brute" Weiss sneered watching her faunus sniff around the relatively large pallet that sat in the corner of the room, boxed in by two walls and the white-haired girl's bed, but she was surprised at how nice it felt despite the fact she was on the floor, Ruby proceeded to turn around in a circle before curling up huddling against a pillow as the white-haired girl dropped a blanker to then cover the girl "sleep, your tired and you need to let that foot rest" she instructed as the clutches of sleep rose from the ground and swaddled the faunus in their gilding hands, carrying her away from the lands of the living and towards the hills of rest, which was full of unfinished thoughts and the warped and unlikely advents of today, molded into the birds of dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the Schnee dust company owns over one million bull faunus, two thousand rat faunus, and a few rare bird faunus, all of which are descended from just six breeding pairs.


	3. The vet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> faunas, are a hard question, all that is know is that they have an aura, they are lesser then humans, and apparently very bitter about it.

13 days till evaluation

the vet, Ruby noted, wasn't full of cute fluffy dogs and playful cats like Ruby was promised, but instead a load of middle-aged faunas with mangled limbs and slum expressions was all she got, as well as woman trying to control a young rabbit fauna who was bouncing about like it's been fed five bags of sugar. but she did get to examine a large selection of toys which after a few tugs from the annoying white girl as she tried to tug her away from the selection, she was promised to be bought one or two of them once the examination was over and possibly a third if she was especially good and didn't bite someone or growl at anyone. which was something Ruby could possibly do, especially if it was for the promise of little toy turtles and floppy bunnies.

"Weiss Schnee? the veterinarian will see your faunas now" some attendant in a white coat said reading off a clipboard while Weiss grabbed onto Ruby's arm and practically dragged her towards the room indicated, while the blond and her cat fauna just gave them a thumbs up and continued to sit there petting the dark-haired cat. Ruby had determined that she liked the vet a lot more when she was just looking at the cute little shop in the waiting room, instead she was being pushed onto a metal table like a sack of potatoes while a man in another white coat pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and her nose was plugged up with the smell of rubbing alcohol and bacterial disinfectant, two smells that Ruby discovered she doesn't like.

"what seems to be the problem?" he asked taking hold of one of Ruby's hands and checking her sharp claw-like nails 

"well I need her registered and then by extension a checkup, since I don't know the last time she was taken to a vet, if ever" Weiss commented stroking the wolf girl's head as the girl contemplated whether she would still get a toy if she scratched this man. 

"did you pick her up from the pound or is she a stray?" he asked starting to feel Ruby's body with no care for her personal space or the fact she was about one jab away from breaking her vow to behave. 

"stray" Weiss answered glaring at the faunas as she let out a low growl 

"she's malnourished, probably hasn't eaten in a few weeks, her claws need to be clipped, and she has flees, nothing broken, could do with a few shots but asides from getting her weight up I don't think anything is wrong with her, then again I want to do a stool sample to check" Ruby then gave off the most confused look anyone has ever seen. 

why would he need part of a stool to see if something was wrong with her? what does a short wooden seat have to do with medicine?

* * *

that was the most horrifying experience Ruby has ever had to feel in her life, even having her foot almost ripped off by a hungry beowolf didn't top having a small stick being shoved up her butt, in good news there's nothing wrong with her, but then again she could have told the vet that but every time she spoke she just got a pat on the head and ignored. even Weiss ignored her! only really paying much attention to her when she yelped for having that horrifying experience which has forever changed her views on the vet for life, even then she just rubbed her ear and told her it will be over soon.

"well, give her these and I want her on this specialist diet" the vet instructed presenting the white-haired girl with two bottles and a piece of paper, all while the girl comforted her new faunas who's had needles stuck into her, things stuck in a place that nothing should ever be stuck in and had someone feel around her naughty bits, but apparently that's legal because apparently, faunas are only a small step away from straight up animals. 

"I thought you said she was malnourished?  wouldn't a diet be a bit problematic?" Weiss asked rubbing Ruby's stomach as the young girl curled up at her side seeking company more then anything but the affection was enjoyed by both parties.

"she is, think of this as an anti-diet, to help her gain weight not lose it, those are for the flees and those are multivitamins" the doctor said as the new found owner nodded with a better understanding, she stood up and shook the doctor's hand who gave the white-haired girl a small envelope "put that in a collar when you buy her one" he instructed giving Ruby a quick ear scratch which made her flinch away from his hand slightly "she might feel a bit woozy from the antiseptic I gave her to help with her ankle, she should be ok but lots of ear rubs will help with recovery" he smiled as Weiss encouraged her new faunas to stand up, her faunas obviously didn't want to move, but after a quick reminder about her reward she almost sprung to her feet which she instantly regretted because her bad foot started to tingle and she swayed slightly. "I would also suggest you limit how much she walks, that ankle isn't going to heal properly otherwise" 

"I'll ensure she's in full health in a few weeks, but I think we should both make haste before she lunges at someone" Weiss said ushering her Faunas out of the room and back towards her blond friend, which was currently discussing something with the woman who had the bouncy rabbit, that was now asleep. "That was better than expected" the white-haired girl sighed. letting Ruby go, who happily went over to the selection of toys and went to pick out her reward. 

"Blake, go watch her" Yang then instructed pushing her Faunas away, who nodded in understanding before going over to her Faunas in arms and helped her search for the perfect selection of stuffed animals. 

"Just out of curiosity, what was it like when you first had Blake?"Weiss groaned running her fingers through her hair. 

"It wasn't that bad actually, but I've had Blake for like eight years, and that's only because my dad pulled her in after she got in a fight" Yang sighed, laughing slightly when the two Faunas returned. Ruby was very happy, she had a very quick wagging tail and her arms where full of three fuzzy animals which she was very fond of, Weiss patted her head before standing up and paying for everything. 

After they said goodbye to the nice woman they both call their Faunas, Blake practically jumped in the air and rushed to Yang's side and gripping onto her arm, Weiss on the other hand had to grab Ruby's hand and place it on her arm, repeating the process a few times before the young Faunas got the idea, and gripped on. The two huntress-in-training then could lead their Faunas out of the vet and onto the streets, one of them wasn't particularly worried about their Faunas the other was keeping a firm grip on their faunas' coat which was really just one of Weiss' coats lent to the twelve-year-old who was complaining about being cold without her scarf. 

Weiss kinda knew what she was getting in to when she thought having a new Faunas of such a young age was a good idea, since she had a Faunas for around five years before an unfortunate series of events took that Faunas away from her, but now she was contemplating whether that was a particularly good idea. But maybe she should just give Ruby some slack? She is only twelve and her old Faunas was twenty, and it was obvious that this girl had been through a lot, Weiss sighed but that didn't notify her of the oncoming car. 

Luckily Ruby's ears twitched, and the young wolf had seen enough foxes and hedgehogs being squished to know how dangerous a car was, so she quickly yanked Weiss away from the road. Weiss gasped in shock as she felt the car woosh past, the wind created caused her skirt to ruffle as Ruby whined up at her new owner, telling her in a wolfish way of the danger surrounding the road. 

"Sorry I was monologing for too long," the white-haired girl said with a smile, before then praising her little savior, that wagged her tail as her ears where rubbed. 

"Alright, where we going now? There's a shop up ahead if you want to get her a collar" the blonde said pointing to a little shop on the corner "remember she needs more bedding and clothes" 

"What's wrong with the things she's already got?" Weiss asked slightly confused

"White is ok with black and red but it really doesn't suit her, and besides her tail looks stiff and not to mention her trousers keep falling down, and I don't think your one to keep her natural" Yang commented quickly grabbing the waistband of her friend's Faunas and pulling it back up. Before the wolf was pushed back towards the white-haired girl who was already halfway across the street, just this time at the appropriate crossing. 

"Well she does have thick fur, but no, I saw how Blake was when you tried it and she looked miserable" Weiss commented as the two Faunas looked at each other in slight curiosity before the arrived at their destination, Yang went one way saying she needed to get Blake something while leaving Weiss to pick through a selection of collars, while her Faunas sat on the floor having various collars clipped around her neck and pulled off while she played with a toy rabbit's ears. 

Though after around five minutes Weiss then asked her Faunas her choice out of three collars, Ruby thought long and hard before making her choice, which was of a black leather collar with soft red fur that lined the inside, along with a layer of padding packed between the two layers. It was designed for comfort, and Weiss agreed that it probably would be easier to train her Faunas without it being especially bitter about having a rough, uncomfortable collar on, even though the collar wasn't too tight and just hugged her neck, but then again she wouldn't like something tugging on it like most domestic owners do.

Ruby didn't really see the appeal of having a collar on, sure she understood how it could be important and keeps her away from the slave camps. But she didn't understand why they could have come up with a wrist band or a sticker, instead of a degrading neck noose that only stated that Faunas were inferior to humans even more than the massive billboards that advertised Faunas breeders and local pounds. At least it was a step up from having an identification tag stamped in her ear like it was in vacuo or being branded like in Atlas. 

But then Ruby realized that she's never seen Blake's collar, she must have one right? She's a Faunas just like Ruby, so surely she'd have one? 

"Ruby, Come on, I'm sure you want to pick out some new blankets" her new owner then called, watching the girl quickly gather up her toys in her arms before following after her. Her tail swaying happily as she got to look over the various bedding before Weiss draped a furry red mass of sheet over her head, causing the girl to giggle before wrestling with it slightly. " Do you like that one?" She asked as the girl nodded before being quickly intercepted by a blond. 

"She needs at least three" she instructed before dropping a few things in the white-haired girl's basket and then walking off. 

Weiss just then groaned, obviously bored with the shopping and then spent the next hour going through the shop and basically buying Ruby everything she wanted and or needed, in the end there were one very happy Faunas with an arm full of toys and a tried heiress who just spent five hundred lien on someone who has no understanding of money. 

Ruby though did just bounce around while Weiss had to carry everything herself since she quickly learned that the twelve-year-old was not all the strong and that her arms looked like chicken bones, which didn't support much muscle if any at all. But Ruby only agreed to carry a vast majority of her toys, which gave an interesting picture of a Faunas happily holding a row of colorful and fuzzy animals in her arms. 

Though something which Weiss regarded as a good investment was a small length of fabric, with a loop on one end and a clip on the other, this attached to a strong strap that wrapped around her Faunas' wrist and was impossible to take off with only one hand, enabling Weiss some sense of security while walking with her Faunas since the small girl had already attempted to walk off twice, since the ten minutes they left the shop. 

"You ok there? You look like your going to be crushed by those bags" ah yes and there's the blonde, Ruby decided after a whole day of deliberation and having slept on the thought she had decided that she didn't like this person and she made it very clear. 

"If you could, take like one or five" Weiss grunted shoving about half the bags at her friend who then regretted opening her mouth. "Can we just go back? I don't want Ruby walking for too long" 

"Sure sure" Yang groaned "I sware you're going to spoil that girl" she added looking at the girl who was very happy with her new things. 

"At least I have the lien to do it, and besides she's had a hard life" the white-haired girl added as her friend nodded with a slum expression as she looked to the limping girl, who looked back with a growl before moving closer to the white-haired girl. " she's been very good today as well" she praised. 

"Good? I took her to the toilet and she almost bit me!" The blonde growled 

"Honestly? If I could, I probably would bite you too" Weiss smirked, obviously happy with her faunas' actions even if they are particularly... savage and uncouth. "And you keep scaring her, what would you think she would do?" 

"I don't scare her, I was only trying to give her a hug!" 

"You shouted down her ear! They're sensitive you know!" 

"I was trying to get her attention!" 

"She was reading! You could have just left her alone!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know that!? Faunas are dumb animals that can bearly comprehend the fact they are alive, all I knew is that she could have just been staring at sign because it was colorful" 

"Yang, you do not get to talk about Faunas like that" Blake then growled, hissing at her owner while Ruby also growled, landing the blonde in a very bad position as she suddenly dropped her bags and sprinted away, being followed by a very angry Blake. 

"I don't suppose you think you can carry a bag?" Weiss asked Ruby who thought before shaking her head. "Right" the heiress sighed. 

* * *

 

"Here you are miss Schnee," a fancy butler said passing the white-haired girl the final bag while the pair stood outside their room "I've already cleaned your dorm, made your bed and set some afternoon snacks on your desk, is there anything else you would like?" He asked before being dismissed. 

"Ooo I thought I could see fancy people!" Someone else chirped making Ruby jump and then dash behind Weiss to hide. "And who's this adorable doggy? Is she your new Faunas?" 

"Hello Nora" Weiss groaned watching the bouncy teen jump around before her own Faunas slowly caught up, he was a lot tamer than his owner who bounced about like an unruly seven-year-old, even when she hasn't had sugar. 

"Greetings" the chinchilla smiled, bowing down to the two girls, even though one of them was huddling behind her owner. This earned him a small hair rub from the heiress before the ginger jumped onto the small dog cheering, and then being very shocked when the girl collapsed onto the floor. 

"Oops, she's broken, sorry Weiss," the ginger said getting off the floor and nudging the whimpering wolf with her foot. 

"Nora!" Weiss growled grabbing the girl and dragging her back to her feet, where she swayed in till leaning against the wall. "We literally just came back from the vet!" She growled

"I said I was sorry meanie!" Nora shouted back watching her friend try and keep her Faunas on her feet, which wasn't working. "Actually, is she ok?" 

"Potentially" Weiss sighed just letting the girl be supported by the wall. "What are you two doing here? I thought you had class" 

"Giving you Yang's homework" Nora then said shoving a huge stack of papers at Weiss before disappearing behind the door opposite. 

"Ugh, let's get you inside" the white-haired girl declared, pushing Ruby into the room and down onto the wolf's bed where she suddenly fell asleep-

Zzz

Zzz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the rare-ist faunus to be found on remnant was an black peacock with a full tail fan, beak, and talons, it had black flesh black bones and black organs.


	4. Forever fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby finds out that being a huntress is a lot harder then Ruby ever expected, good thing she's not going to be one of those...
> 
> Oh wait

10 days till evaluation 

"She's so cute while she's sleeping" Yang muttered watching Weiss' Faunus as she slept curled up under her brand new blankets, cuddling with her toys in her thin paw print pyjamas. "It's almost like she's not a terror when she's asleep" 

"Yang I sware if you wake her I'll gut you" Blake growled, "she's young, and she's healing, she needs rest" 

"Oh hush, I wasn't going to wake her I was just watching, Weiss said to make sure she stays asleep" Yang sighed laying on her stomach on her friend's bed while she watched the girl, who rolled about on her bed for a bit before settling. Showing off her collar as her mouth opened involuntarily, allowing a trail of drool to dribble down her cheek "I take it back, she's no longer cute" Yang said with a wrinkled nose before turning to her Faunus/ best friend. "Ugh when's Weiss going to be back? We gotta go in like two hours and she hasn't even woke her dog yet" 

"She's probably doing something important, didn't she say that she was going to ask her farther something?" 

"Eugh I don't care what she's doing, I just want her back" Yang groaned before quickly quieting down when she saw Ruby's ear twitch. 

"Wow, I know your desperate when you start begging for Weiss of all people to come back" the cat commented, as the door just opened revealing the Schnee in question who was holding a length of red fabric 

Or a scarf, because using the same set of words to describe the same thing over and over is tiresome and boring for both the writer and the reader. 

"She asleep?" Weiss asked as Blake nodded, watching Weiss pull on a pair of thick gardening gloves and put the scarf down ontop of the desk  "Good, now shift" she then instructed watching the blonde jump off her bed and allowing her access to the girl curled up in the little corner between her bed and the wall. Well, she says little, it was big enough to be able to fit an additional single bed in, which is an appropriate amount of space for a Faunus to have as their own. Weiss though just watched her Faunus sleep for a few seconds before reaching down and stroking her back, the girl wiggled and twisted before her hand shot up and grabbed the white-haired girl's wrist digging in her claws until she realised who had woken her. 

And then proceeded to grumble, wiggling herself under her covers further. 

Weiss groaned, jumping down in front of the girl before shaking her which only caused the little wolf to growl until her hand lashed at the Schnee, but luckily the gloves stopped any further damage apart from a few pulled threads. "Get up, we have things to do" she urged reaching into the covers and pulling the first thing her hand touched, which turned out to be the girls tail. 

"No!" Ruby shouted being dragged out of bed, her claws digging into the carpet before her tail was let go, and she was then pushed into the centre of the room. 

"Get dressed now" Weiss instructed pulling off her gloves as the young Faunus grumbled out something before she slinked into the bathroom dragging a bundle of black and red as she went.

"That was harder then it needed to be" Yang commented as Weiss sighed going to her draws and pulling out a jar of wax 

"Yeah well, you try and wake a twelve-year-old who has no problem scratching and biting someone" the white-haired girl growled sitting on her bed while she waited for her Faunus. 

"Have you tried using honey?  I used to give it to Blake as a reward, and you be got like a week to train that girl the basics" Yang said just as the wolf limped through the door, being dragged down to sit on the floor in front of Weiss. 

"Maybe I should try it" she commented rubbing the wax into the small girl's ears, before pulling her up and fixing her shirt. "Now, shoes and then food" she instructed watching as the girl perked up at the mention of food, who quickly raced around the room to strap on her Velcro boots and pull on a pair of socks, just not in that order. 

"Breakfast!" She chirped jumping on the spot before the white-haired girl beckoned her closer. 

"In a second" she sighed before rapping and fastening the girl's cuff on, and then presenting her with her scarf, Ruby gasped quickly grabbing it and rapping it around her neck in record time. 

"Thank you!" She chirped before then and finally, then everyone went to go get breakfast, well more like brunch, it was ten in the morning.

* * *

"Stay" Weiss instructed, well "instructed" she didn't really expect the excitable puppy to stay at the table, so instead she tied the girl to the table leg which effectively made her stay even if it was just the girl's hand that was tied. 

Though Weiss had to admit that she's almost gotten used to the younger girl's antics in the last four days, then again none of them where good behaviour that shouldn't be encouraged, she bites, she scratches, she complains, and she utterly destroys things when bored. Weiss simply has no idea how to control the girl, and short of muzzling her, there was almost no way she could stop her from behaving badly... 

"Ruby, sit" she commanded, holding the girl's breakfast out of her reach. Ruby looked at her with confusion tilting her head, before Weiss spoke again "Ruby, sit" she started watching the girl whine for her food "sit" she tried again, which didn't work. 

"Ruby is you sit down you get to eat" Yang the added watching the girl quickly sit down on the bench like she was supposed to a while ago. 

"Dam you" Weiss hissed giving the girl her food, watching the wolf wag her tail happily, as she wolfed down her breakfast. "Good girl" she praised though, rubbing Ruby's silky ears, Which practically slipped though the heiress' fingers. 

"Hey I know what the girl wants" she smirked watching her icy friend pet her feral Faunus, who was being relatively tame, mainly because she was hunched over her plate protectively. 

"Yes, food" Weiss sighed as the girl suddenly snapped towards Weiss "I don't have any more," she said holding her hands up to show the girl that, who started to sulk which caused her way too caring owner to sigh and rejoin the food line. 

"You wouldn't think it would be the Schnee who ends up spoiling her Faunus" Blake muttered to Yang who started to laugh quietly. "So Ruby, where did you come from?" She then asked trying to make talk with her fellow Faunus. 

"My mummy's tummy?" She said slightly confused by that question before she got very existed about Weiss returning so much so that she clambered over the table until she found herself tugging against her restraint. 

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted looking at the smashed plate that was knocked to the floor by accident, the shout only made the girl yelp and quickly slap her hands down over her ears "no more food" she declared just as the intercom announced for all first and second year teams are to report to the airships "Ugh we'll talk about this later." She growled 

* * *

 

"At miss Schnee, such a pleasure to see you, and I can see that you've obtained a new Faunus, how nice" a fat bearly professor commented turning away from a small young girl who looked less the quarter his age. 

"Yes sir, this is Ruby"Weiss beamed pushing Ruby forwards who dug her heels in trying not to get close to the potential paedophile. But of course fait didn't want to work with her today and she was deeply inspected by this fat man, by him looking her over likes he was some kind of show dog, lifting her tail and feeling her sides, much like the vet, but this was more internment, and Ruby wanted to puke throughout the whole experience, and almost succeeded. 

"My! Such a fine little wolf indeed! When I was much younger then my youthful self, I was great friends with young miss Xiao Long's farther, and that man possessed a stunning wolf himself, I do believe I haven't found a similar specimen until now!" He shouted unintentionally loud, before he roughly patted Ruby on the head, making her Squeak with every hit. "Not to mention such soft fur" he commented pulling on one of the girl's ears. 

"Umm, sir I think you're hurting her" Weiss commented making the teacher chuckle

"Nonsense child, Faunus don't feel as much pain as us, humans, she can bearly feel my hand right now!" He smiled, as the girl standing next to him, presumably his Faunus, gave Ruby a sympathetic look before she shook off the professors' hand "Now! Come along we must collect some sap samples from the trees around us, here in the forest of forever fall, be careful since Grimm can be attracted to the sap" 

"Are you ok?" Weiss then muttered to her Faunus who nodded, rubbing her own ear as she detested the aching feeling in her ear, but luckily Weiss came to the rescue and started to rub for her. "Just for the record I don't think what he said about Faunus was true" she muttered, making Ruby smile and wag her tail. 

Even if it wasn't true, it didn't change the fact that so many people believed it. 

"Only mean people who do mean things believe that" Ruby muttered to her white-haired owner who nodded leading the girl through the autumn coloured leaves. 

"Helloooooo!" Someone shouted sailing passed before landing against a tree nearby, "Weiss your here! My amazing snow angle~" 

"Ugh no," Weiss groaned speed walking away, dragging poor Ruby behind her. 

"Don't be like that! I'm just excited to see you! It's been like forever and you don't even sit with us in the lunch hall anymore!" A tall scraggly blonde chirped walking with the heiress who was practically dragging her Faunus across the floor to get away from him. 

That is until she was cornered and Ruby was allowed to lean against a tree and catch her breath since her body was simply too weak for strenuous work. "What do you want Jaune" Weiss growled as the blond leaned against a tree as well, in a similar state to Ruby who was at least getting sympathy from her owner, along with a helpful arm extended across the small of her back, keeping her steady as she panted. 

"I just want to talk! Nora was almost vibrating after seeing you a few days ago" he smiled catching his breath before standing up properly while Ruby's long dog-like tongue lolled out of her mouth as she tried to cool down from being over worked, even though it was only a quick jog a short distance. 

"Fine, you talked, this was a good conversation, good bye," Weiss said trying to push the blonde away but also not moving the wolf. 

"Hey! I'm serious I wanna talk, you've got a new Faunus I can see, and I don't know, we could walk around together?" He asked as the white-haired girl, groaned the whole time, before then finally agreeing. 

"Just, we have to go slow," She said as the blond nodded, watching Ruby with interest, as the girl gripped onto her owner's arm for support, which was granted to her rather quickly. 

Though luckily for Weiss, Ruby was no longer in the mood for exploring, or moving excessively, she just spent the time glued onto her owner's side, letting the girl take at least half her weight. Which was a good behaviour that Weiss would make a note to reward her for later. "Is she still training? She looks like she's trying to get you to carry her" that blonde asked 

"She probably is, she has a lame foot" Weiss sighed as the boy looked down to the girls leg that was limping across the forest roughage. "Beowolf bite apparently" 

"Ouch, shame she couldn't heal it, such a beautiful little wolf shouldn't have to suffer with a thing like that" Jaune commented before another girl stumbled through the brush "there you are! I was looking for you!" He shouted. 

"Ur-" the girl said grabbing her owner's sleeve while pointing into the trees 

"What is it? You go missing for an hour and now you want my attention?" 

"Urs-" 

"Come on, spit it out" 

"URSA!" Ruby screeched drawing the two hunters in training's attention as they looked towards where their terrified faunas where staring at In fear, Ruby was just about to bolt away like a spooked horse while the other Faunus was frantically trying to find a hiding place. 

"Ruby, calm down, just stay there" Weiss hushed trying to keep her Faunus in the same spot while she tried to draw her sword, but none of her calming techniques where working so instead she kicked Ruby's lame foot, causing her to fall to the ground whining and whimpering as she held her ankle. "Stay there" Weiss growled using her hand to draw aura out from Ruby's body in a shining stream of white and red that mixed into pink in the middle.

she used this aura to gild her blade in it's shimmering light, This then allowed her to activate her semblance, a glyph forming at the tip of her rapier Which clicked to life, the barrel swivelling as red coloured dust was powered along the blade and a series of great balls of fire was shot towards the Ursa. 

Jaune on the other hand, used Weiss' cover to charge forwards his shield blocking any and all attacks from the Ursa as he sliced off the beast's terrible paw, he used his Faunus in a much different way, He used aura to sharpen his blade, this allowed him to cut though even the thickest of Grimm hide. 

Both Faunus, their use very limited in battle, had removed themselves from the fight slightly, though Weiss stayed nearby, almost constantly drawing aura from her Faunus who was starting to feel the effects of her soul being dragged out of her body involuntarily. 

Though after a few minutes the battle was soon over, and Jaune delivered the final strike, using his blade to slit the throat of the grotesque bear, that choked on its own blood before falling to the ground and started to disintegrate. 

"That came out of nowhere" Jaune commented as his lion Faunus scuttled towards him, apologizing profusely about running off. "Pyrrha I don't care you're forgiven" he sighed dragging the girl towards her friend. 

"What in the world where you thinking!? You could have gotten us killed!" Weiss shouted at her Faunus "if you just listened, then we wouldn't have had this problem!" 

"Hey, Weiss, go easy on the girl, she's only a puppy" Jaune interrupted pulling the annoyed white-haired girl away from Ruby who was still whining about her newly hurt ankle. "You said it yourself that she's still training, and a massive Ursa jumping through the trees is of course going to make her run" 

"Ughra" Weiss groaned rubbing her face as Ruby cowered underneath her, but just as Weiss turned back to the girl she found that her faunus was absolutely terrified of her, her ears flipped back and her tail curled up between her legs as she tried to curl in on herself and hide, well tried to, she couldn't exactly hide from someone she was attached to. Weiss' expression quickly grew soft at her faunus' fearful stance and she quickly realised that punishing a small twelve year old from running away from a huge ancient bear with axe heads for teeth was a little unfair on the girl, especially if Ruby has had a bad experience with Grimm before, as evidence from the large bite that Weiss just agitated and probably sent the girl into a bigger world of hurt then was probably needed. Weiss just sighed before crouching down in front of the girl, who almost instinctively tried to back away from her like she had the plague. "Ruby~" she sighed softly, before then holding out her hand to the girl, Ruby cautiously moved closer smiling when her owner brought her hand up and rubbed her cheek.

the small wolf's tail proceeded to uncurl as she moved closer to her owner, rubbing her ears against the girl's shoulders. "I'm sorry for shouting, it was unfair of me to do so, how would you have of know that I needed you to stay in one spot?" Weiss laughed slightly, scratching behind her faunus' ears, which was greatly appreciated by the girl who wiggled a little closer to the Schnee. 

"see? she's a good girl, you've just been hard on her for the little things. when you train a faunus you're going to get nowhere by simply punishment." Jaune smiled watching his "friend" rap her arm underneath her faunus' arms, effectively lifting the thin girl from the ground and back on her feet, well foot, since she thought that kicking her healing cut was a good idea.

"yes thank you Jaune" she smiled as the blonde practically squeaked with happiness

"so, if you really want to thank me, are you free this weekend? there's this new film coming out and I wanted to know if you would-"

"let me stop you there, I appreciate you helping me with Ruby, but I'm gay" Weiss quickly intercepted 

"oh" he just said as the white-haired girl rose an eyebrow "I- well- I don't mean like a bad oh- i mean that's ok- its ok to be gay, but you could have told me sooner and then... well I wouldn't have wrote that song for you" he said sheepishly while rubbing his neck. 

"I would of but Yang swore me to secrecy since she found it funny, it was just getting a bit depressing" Weiss commented " now if you excuse me I need to go find Yang" the white-haired girl said, helping Ruby to walk as they transversed throughout the trees, looking for the surprisingly hard to find boisterous blonde.

 

* * *

 

"hey, Weiss!" Yang chirped before looking at her with concern as she aided her faunus to walk, this then signified for Blake, aka the only medic in the whole of the second year class, to come and help her teammate "whoa what happened?" Yang asked putting her jar of sap down to go help her faunus. 

"Ursa attacked us, Jaune somehow lost track of Pyrrha who, I don't know what she did, but she had sap splattered all over her" Weiss commented removing Ruby's boot and sock to reveal the soaked bandage that covered her foot and ankle.

" the stuff kinda goes everywhere though" Yang commented showing Weiss her sticky hand, which caught the attention of a certain wolf, who's nose started to twitch as she followed the blonde's hand wherever she moved it, until Yang felt something rough, sorta wet but also sorta dry drag across her finger and she looked to Ruby who was now eagerly licking the sap off her hand like it was some kind of lollipop "see Weiss? i told you, that you should use honey, look at her!" Yang smirked not at all minding her hand being licked before Ruby made some strange confusion between a flesh hand covered in sap to a actual lollipop, and then used her teeth. "hey no!" Yang scolded wiping off slobbered from her fingers. 

"Maybe I will used honey" Weiss smirked, rubbing her faunus' ears while Blake set to work changing her bandage, which really didn't take long only a few minutes until the dark cat pulled out some painkillers, rather strong painkillers "I should really start now" Weiss added as she was presented with the chalk like pill.

"I have an idea!" Yang said picking her jar of sap back up and then coating the pill in the sap, which was quickly consumed by the girl, almost like it wasn't even there in the first place "that surprisingly worked " 

"I guess today wasn't so bad after all" Weiss muttered as her faunus made it a point to be as cute as possible with her fluffy tail wagging every time Weiss brushed her hair with her fingers 

"yes and now anyone who eats that sap wont be able to feel there toes for a week" Blake added pointing to the jar of sap that Yang had dunked a horse tranquilizer into, but hey it got Ruby to sleep "i probably should have read the label" the dark cat added 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vale has had over five hundred kings and queens, the youngest king was Henry VI who was crowned at the age of eight months and twenty-six days old and the youngest queen was Isabella of Anima who was crowned at age six years eleven month and twenty-five days old


	5. jumping to action

8 days till evaluation 

"Rah, I can't believe Proffessor badbitch! It wasn't even my fault, it was Cardin and his pigion's fault!" Yang growled pacing up and down the dorm, Blake was... somewhere probably avoiding her angered owner, while Weiss was subjugated to listening to the blonde's ranting. She was just reading a book while petting Ruby who was reading with her but got bored quickly and fell asleep, which automatically made her face the brunt of her blonde friend's anger.

"Still, you didn't have to shout in her class" Weiss sighed, Running her fingers through her Faunus' hair, who was practically purring at the action, that is if she could purr. 

"Come on, he was being an ass" Yang growled flopping down on her friends bed and accidentally nocking Ruby into awakeness, who wasn't all that happy about being woken up, but after a few ear pets she settled for just kicking the girl in the face. "Ugh yeah I'm sorry, jerk" Yang sighed patting Ruby on her back. 

"Hey, she's trying" Weiss defended kicking the blonde as well. 

"Aren't you two supposed to be training? Badwitch isn't going to be nice with her judgment" Yang added watching her friend stop in her petting, which then caused Ruby to look up at her owner. 

"Well... we where, but I got distracted" Weiss admitted snapping her book shut "alright, off the bed, I don't want your fur everywhere" she said pushing Ruby off her covers, the girl huffed, shaking herself down and sending a cascade of black wispy fur to the floor. 

"Too late about that everywhere thing" Yang sighed watching the small wolf clamber into her own bed, curling up on the thick black sheeted mattress. "Hey, don't fall asleep, you need to go train" Yang said shaking the girl as she huffed before playing with her toys, rolling on her back and flicking the turtle up in the air giggling as she shook it in her mouth "Good enough"

"Better then when she did this" Weiss said pulling up her covers slightly to show the chewed bed leg. "Anyway, your right, Ruby, come one we need to do something" Weiss instructed bearly getting the Faunus' attention. "Ruby!" She shouted, how that caught the girl's attention. 

"Honey" Yang said passing Weiss the jar of bee vomit "Just smear it on your hand, and let her lick it off when she's good"

"Thanks... enjoy your month of detention" Weiss said leading the small girl out of the dorm And completely forgetting she was carrying a toy turtle.

* * *

"Up!" Weiss tried, but Ruby really didn't care, even worse the training hall was full of lots of different faunas and their owners practicing different (And much more complex) routines. Weiss and Ruby on the other hand had made very little progress in the basic 'stay' and 'sit' "up!" Weiss tried again as Ruby yet again ignored her. 

Weiss sighed walking away and picking up the jar of honey she was gifted "this better work" she sighed scooping a bit of the Amber liquid and slathering it onto her palm, and then walking back to her Faunus, presenting the girl with her closed hand which she started to sniff frantically. "Up" the white-haired girl commanded holding her bee vomit covered palm above the wolf's head which caused her to jump, precisely what Weiss wanted "good girl!" She praised making Ruby's tail wag as she was then presented with the heiress' palm and proceeded to lick off the honey. 

This process continued for a few hours until Ruby was jumping on the spot on command with no food reward and indeed just a vocal praise and a ear rub was rewarded which was good since Weiss ran out of honey. 

"Well that was almost pitiful" someone else commented with a smug attitude as Weiss looked up to see Beacon's resident asshole, Carden Winchester. 

"Shut up Carden" Weiss growled watching as Ruby curiously sniffed at his balled hand, something Weiss used to signify that she had honey, instead this only got the little wolf a smack on the nose and not a delicious treat "don't hit her!" Weiss snapped giving the girl refuge behind her as she gripped onto the back of her Monday jacket. 

"Don't you dare talk to me like that Schnee!" He practically screeched, causing Ruby to whimpered behind her owner. 

"I'll talk to you however I want" Weiss spat watching in mild horror as Carden's mase was pulled out. 

"Fine" he growled charging forward, signifying for Weiss to quickly rap herself around her Faunus and dive out of the way from the ranging kinda adult, protecting the girl from what could have potentially killed the delicate wolf. 

Weiss growled drawing Mystnister (her sword) and charged forwards, clashing the the mase as her blade was easily flicked out of her hands. this is why she nearly never engages close combat Weiss noted before shots where fired at the tall boy. 

"Are you insane!? You could have killed her!" Someone else shouted quickly storming over, carrying a huge minigun, and... with two brown bunny ears? 

A Faunus with a weapon!? 

"Faunus are fragile you know! They can't heal like us!" They shouted as it was revealed that she had her Faunus hanging onto her back like some kind of backpack. 

it was just coco and her weird way of using her Faunus in battle. In good news the huge gun scared away the Carden "Ugh I hate that guy" the fashionista sighed watching Weiss crouch down to help her Faunus up onto her feet. "Is she ok?" Coco asked reaching up and rubbing the wolf's ears which caused her to whine, wiggling closer to her owner for succour. 

"Yeah, she seems to be getting hurt a lot this week" Weiss sighed, smiling slightly as the girl nuzzled into her neck, the white haired girl just reach up and start running her fingers through her Faunus' short hair being very careful not to upset her more then she already was. "She might have just hit her head" 

"Poor little thing, she's lame isn't she?" The third year asked as Weiss nodded, watching a brown haired rabbit Faunus who was particularly intreaged by how Weiss was holding her Faunus so close. "I always feel bad for lame Faunus, it just feels like a shame, your not going to put her down are you?"

"No! No of course not!, she had the injury before I even got her, it doesn't even affect her all that much she just can't walk for a long time or Run very well" Weiss quickly answered, passing her hand over the small wolf's not very small ears, listening to the girl's quite whimpers "it would take a lot for me to even consider putting her down" 

"Thats the right attitude Schnee" Coco smiled patting the white haired girl on the shoulder "Come on, I'll help you get her to the infirmary, she's probably fine, but then again, you never really know with Faunus." She said moving closer to the two and lifting Ruby up into her arms bridal style, laughing slightly when the girl squeaked, trying to grab onto her owner who stayed nearby. "Come on Velvet, don't just stay there all day, we're going to go see Blake" 

"Coming!" The rabbit girl squeaked happily before quickly following the two humans. 

* * *

"She's fine, just a bruise" Blake quickly concluded after carefully looking between the hairs of Ruby's head. The girl seemed to really not care, but in reality she was curiously playing with Blake's black overcoat, occasionally shaking off her Faunus friends' fingers. 

"well, it's better to know that now then later" Coco smiled watching Weiss Rub Ruby's back, an action not unwelcome by the wolf, who's tail swished across the bed she was seated on. 

"Just let her be there for a bit, let her work out the shock of the hit" Blake instructed picking her words carefully as she spoke to the two humans, even though the two were relatively nice, Blake was unsure about how that could change. 

"If I leave her too long she'll fall asleep" Weiss joked just as Ruby curled up on her lap half on half off. 

The dark cat rolled her eyes, smiling as her fellow Faunus enjoyed some well deserved ear scratches, her tail being stroked in the process. "I think She's earned a nap" Coco added "She did learn a cool trick today" 

"True" Weiss agreed patting the content girl on the back while she lay in her lap, very happy with just resting and having her ears petted, everything else just seem to be a bonus. "But we've been training for a while and she's only seemed to get that trick today" 

"She is quite young though, what is she? Ten?" 

"Twelve actually, but she doesn't act like it, don't you?" Weiss asked teasingly as Ruby huffed, rolling over to show her owner her stomach "No, no you don't" she smiled rubbing Ruby's stomach and watching her giggle loudly. 

"You two are so cute!" Velvet squeaked moving closer to the young wolf who's tail wagged quite quickly and she prowled out of her owners lap and then proceeded to chase the rabbit Faunus, playfully. 

"Looks like they made a friend" Coco commented as Weiss smiled watching the two run about the small room r until they where thrown out by the head nurse.

* * *

 

"Huh? What's going on?" Yang asked watching Weiss quickly run up and down the room, throwing clothes into a bag, all while Ruby watched, as confused as Yang was yet half asleep at the same time. "Where you goin'?" 

"Atlas, my farther called me back for a progress report" she answered quickly "he wants me there tonight" 

"Whoa, what about Ruby? I'm not going to watch your demon Faunus" Yang quickly said as Ruby growled, showing her dislike of Yang. 

"Please?" Weiss tried but that responded with a roaring no, "maybe you could try and bond? Think of it as an experience"

"I think having all my fingers is an experience, I would rather not lose them to an angry demon that was probably just bored and decided to gnaw off my digits in my sleep because of the heck of it" Yang growled watching the bane of her existence huff on her way too lenient owner's bed, until being shooed off so Weiss could retrieve her scroll and flick through her contacts. 

"I think I know someone who will watch her for me" Weiss smiled as her scroll rang " hi Nora-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> faunus has been domesticated for over fifty thousand years, while dogs have only been domesticated for twenty thousand


	6. Inevitably

8 days till examination

Ruby was in a particularly sour mood, sure today was kinda fun, she got to play with a rabbit faunus who was nice, Weiss taught her something new, and she even got to talk to Blake! but in the end Weiss was call away because her stupid stack of lien with a moustache she calls a farther wanted her home for some stupid reason that she couldn't discuss over the phone when the information he wants is assessable by a computer. every attempt Ruby made to get through the door was either met by an angered grunt from the annoying blonde or a sore hand from the wood her claws where splintering. that is until Yang stomped over and dragged Ruby away from the door and shoved her into her bed

That is until the door was slammed open and the normally calm and quiet room was plunged into chaos Blake hissed, Ruby growled, Yang shouted as a bashful ginger rubber her neck about knocking over the bookcase. 

"Nora!" Yang shouted obviously angry, and also accidentally causing both Faunus to scatter for cover. 

"Sorwy" she giggled, "any who, Weissy asked me to look after Ruru for a few days while she's in atlas, but your here? Why can't you watch her?"

"She's evil" Yang just growled, watching both Faunus clamber out of their hiding places "take her, and her things or she'll complain all at and night" 

"Okaydoky!" Nora chriped easily marching over to Ruby's bed chucking all her things into the middle and gathering the sides, plucking everything from the floor and throwing it over her shoulder, wrapping her arm around Ruby's middle and hiking her up in the air. "I'll bring her back in a few days!" 

"Good luck! Watch your fingers!" yang shouted back watching them cross the hall and dissapered in the door opposite. 

* * *

"Alright! You sleep here" Nora chriped setting up Ruby's bed inbetween the two single beds underneath the window and just a bit closer to Nora's tecnocoloured bed then Jaunue's pumpkin peat themed bed. "You've got so many toys! It's sooo cute" she giggled setting them in an arrangement which was ultimately destroyed as Ruby jumped into her bed nocking them all over as she then wriggled about and put them in a position she was satified with. "Fair enough" Nora chriped, going over to the wardrobe  and pulling out a few spare pillows, which she then proceeded to pack around Ruby's bed, so she doesn't roll under Nora's bed in the night. 

the door did open though, Nora was far more occupied by watching Ruby roll about in her covers, and by roll I mean literally roll in her covers, tumbling around trying to get her bed to the way she likes it  but also sending fur up in the air. "Errr, why's Ruby in here?" Jaune asked as the other two Faunus that lived in their dorm almost charged in before taking very different stances in this intruder. Ten... really didn't care, his dusty features where unfazed by this wolf girl who was cuddling up to an almighty pile of toys, so he just dissapered into the bathroom. pyrrha, almost tried to scare Ruby off, which failed miserably as the lion growled at her, Ruby just lay there bearly paying any mind, and it probably didn't help that pyrrha refused to achally hurt the young pup. 

"Weiss asked me to watch her for a while" Nora shrugged, using her nales to lightly scratch inbetween Ruby's ears, watching her yawn loudly. "And apparently she's very tired" 

"No offence, why you? Can't Yang or literally anyone else watch her?" Jaune said pulling an annoyed Pyrrha away from the sleepy wolf. 

"Like, everyone in Beacon has cat fauna, and Ruby here needs some special doggy attention. Weiss even gave me a whole list of stuff I need to do" Nora said showing Jaune the long list. 

"Ah, you took that course on Dog Faunus last year" Jaunue remembered, patting Ruby on the head lightly watching her put her head down, curling up under her covers so much that you could only see the tips of her ears poking out. 

"She's so cute! I have no idea why Yang refused to watch her" Nora squealed, pulling the small girl into a forced hug, which surprisingly didn't annoy her in the slightest, Ruby's tail, in fact wagged a little at the bear hug. "Aww, she even likes hugs!" Nora said receiving a light hug from the wolf. 

"I think you should let her sleep, she does look tired" Jaune commented watching the girl wiggle out of Nora's arms and wriggle back underneath her blanket cave. The two humans then agreed to leave her to sleep, she did look very tired almost downright exhausted.

* * *

 

"Wakey wakey!" Nora chriped rousing everyone but one in their dorm two Faunus started to stretch, one continued to snooze the morning away. That is until Nora crouched down and gave the young girl a more gentle wake up call, rubbing her back for a few minutes before she grumbled and stretched, letting herself be dressed by the ginger as she rocked on her heels trying to stay awake. 

That is until Pyrrha tackled her to the ground, snapping her awake as she was growled and roared at. Ruby, was in shock, complete and utter shock, but once that shock passed she used her claws to try and scratch the lioness, though the young adult had a lot of advantages over small little Ruby. She was strong, had armour, and most importantly had very clearly marked this room as her territory, and Ren was the only exception. 

"Hey! Get off her!" Jaune shouted grabbing the base of Pyrrha's tail and trying to pull the angered girl off, which really wasn't working. 

Ruby, still pinned to the floor, decided to do a thing she regretted as soon as she did it, that is kick the lioness in the stomach, throwing her off her and allowing the young wolf to get up and shake off a cloud of dust picked up from being slid along the wooden floor. The young wolf frowned at her throbbing in her ankle, she looked to Nora for some kind of help, but it was obvious that she didn't understand and just quickly looked around Ruby's neck for any injuries, and then gave Ruby a confused look to why the wolf was complaining. The rose just watched as Nora whent down a list of things Weiss had left for her, much to Ruby's frustration, if Weiss was here she would know what to do! Everything would be better, and she would be eating breakfast right now! 

Annoyingly, breakfast came a whole hour later, Blake expressed concern about Ruby's beowolf bite before she was dragged away by a blonde who was trying to get pancakes. Ruby was forced to go through standing in a line, instead of sitting and reading like she normally does. Even then she didn't get all the food that she normally gets, or as good of quality since apparently she's so small that it would be a waste to give the starving girl a big meal. When in reality, it was all because she was a Faunus. But none of this food was anything she would deem as even edible, so she shoved it all in the bin while glaring at the frustrated kitchen staff. 

Ruby huffed, annoyed and now very hungry as she was dragged off to morning classes, something she usually got to miss In favour of a few hours extra sleep! She couldnt even sleep in class becaise every single time she did a book would be thrown at her, so really, to say Ruby was in a bad mood was by far an understatement, she was in a terrible mood. 

But as time seemed to pass Ruby's attention seemed to drift away from the teacher and outside the window, where she could easily see the airship docks. More specifically where a large flagship was landing, Ruby leaned towards the window with curiosity and then she scrambled over the desks and out the door. 

Nora shouted after the young wolf who was speeding down the halls, struggling for grip on the laminate flooring, skidding into a door as she turned the corner which opened soon after to watch Ruby leap at her white haired owner, pushing the tired girl to the floor, and happily licking her face. "Arg! Ruby!" She laughed hugging to the girl rather quickly, patting her back as the young wolf wagged her tail. 

"Your back! You left! Why did you leave?!" Ruby asked the initial happiness of her owner's return leaving her, as she suddenly started to question why her owner left. 

"Farther wanted me for a bit" Weiss quickly answered not giving Ruby a full explanation, the girl just whined resting her chin on Weiss' chest, watching the girl wipe slobber from her face with a wagging tail. she was annoyed, but she just couldn't help feel happy when Weiss is near, and she means really happy. "Did you miss me?" She then asked as Ruby nodded her head furiously, enjoying the close contact she's having with her owner. "Were you good for Nora?" She asked watching the ginger run over to the two girls. 

"Weiss~!" Nora shouted leaping onto the white haired girl as well, being lucky that Weiss quickly pushed Ruby out of the way. "Your back!"

"Get off me!" Weiss shouted kicking the ginger off growling, as Ruby squeaked at her angered expression, scittering back a few feet to give the angered girl some room "No, no sorry, I'm not angry" Weiss quickly appologied coaxing the young girl, watching her slowly, cautiously, creep back towards Weiss. Her ears flipped back the whole time, only picking up after a gentle hand was ran along her back, her tail curled a little bit as she nuzzled into Weiss' stomach. 

"Congratulations miss Schnee, you befriended a lame Faunus" Glynda GoodWitch smirked watching this particular scene, practically mocking the girl for her choice in Faunus. "One week left, she better at least know the basics" she reminded while walking away.

No Faunus in sight

Ah, that's Right, Glynda GoodWitch, a world-famous huntress, doesn't have a Faunus, for whatever reason she just doesn't have a Faunus, apparently her faunus died, according to the media, but then again the media is commonly wrong. Ruby remembered what her mother told her when she was much younger about the media, or whatever that thing is, that they usually just jump to the obvious answer for the best audience, and that they lie about a lot of things. Ruby was confused about that last statement, she always was, if they lie so much why do people believe them? She asked herself, but it was better not to question her mother, after all she was super smart. 

Ruby whined, to herself mainly, but Weiss heard as well and looked at her with confusion before petting her ears. Ruby missed her mother greatly, but she couldn't even remember where she is, perhaps it's been years or mabey a few long months since she's last seen her, time sorta slipped past her during the time they where separated. Everything was a strange blur from back then, perhaps it was due to all the head trauma, Ruby just didn't know, she could bearly remember her mother's own face, but she could never forget her secent. 

It was the same secent that clung to Glynda GoodWitch's skin, breathed through the woman's reinforced clothes, and dusted the halls as she walked. Ruby could smell it now, it still latched onto her own flesh, ash of a burning fire, must of a wet feather, dust of a horse's fur, and a whisper of a blossoming rose. 

The fearsome Glynda GoodWitch, smelled like home, Ruby's home, home where her mother was, but why? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> male lemurs rub their tails on their butt, chest, and wrists to use it as a scent weapon to steer off competing males, and impress females with their musk.


	7. I shall remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little heads up, I am working on two books at the same time... so expect things to be a bit slower? What comes to happen will happen, beware team WOLF.

7 days till evaluation 

"Ruby?"Weiss asked curiously, pushing on her Faunus' shoulder snapping the girl out of her own thoughts, before She then dived for her owner, making the white-haired girl laugh, rubbing the wolf's back "What was that about? Did You get lost in your own thoughts?" Weiss asked as Ruby nodded slightly. "Don't let professor GoodWitch bother you too much, she's old and bitter"

"Hey! Why is Ruby allowed to hug you? And not me!" Nora shouted loudly obviously annoyed by the fact she was being ignored in favour for a Faunus, granted she was an adorable faunus, but still! 

"Because Ruby doesn't try to brake my ribs!" Weiss growled holding the small girl closer, not that she minded, her tail wagging slightly "No, no you don't" Weiss cooed to her Faunus, watching her giggle at the puppy talk. 

"Your mean" Nora pouted, watching Ruby prowl around her owner, nuzzling into the white-haired girl's back.

"I am not mean, I just rather would not like to have my ribs crushed" Weiss growled, letting Ruby snake under her arms pawing at her playfully, her white-haired owner rubbing her ears every once in a while, Weiss rather liked how they seemed to slip between her fingers, flopping about as she ran over them, and of course Ruby absolutely loved ear pets, rubbing her head against her owner's hand, showing the white-haired girl in a doggy way that she liked the pets. 

"but Ruby is so cute! and your so mean, it's unfair! she deserves better" Nora wined as Ruby then growled at her, not being very appreciative of her insulting her owner, watching as Nora squeaked and backed away, Weiss just sat, smirking, the whole time as Ruby growled at her 'friend'. 

"Ruby, enough now" Weiss sighed, as Ruby grumbled and then slinked away down the hall, sniffling at the corners, leaving the two humans to talk/ argue while she declared that this one bin here was far more interesting than Nora declaring herself as jealous of the young wolf. that is until she reached into said bin and Weiss quickly sprang up to pull her away from the bin, scolding the young wolf for urban foraging/ bin tipping. "alright, lets move along our way since you certainly have nothing illuminating to say" Weiss growled dragging her hungry faunus away from a half empty packet of crisps, very keen to get Ruby's grubby little hands under a tap with lots of soap as soon as possible. 

* * *

"don't touch anything!" Weiss shouted dragging Ruby away from the door handle allowing Weiss to open the door herself into the dark room, just for her eyes to grow wide and her to suddenly, strongly, almost smash the light switch with an aura induced punch, filling the room with light. "Yang Xiao Long! what in the Grimm giving fuck do you think you are doing!?" she screeched, stepping into the room slamming the door shut on Ruby, who yelped away from the wall of wood, falling onto her bottom barley missing sitting on her tail by a fur. 

Ruby was confused as to where in the world did that sudden outburst come form? but in her new found freedom she just shrugged and licked clean her own hands, not very caring about the fact they had just been in a rubbish bin, she found the salt of the crisp packet very tasty. so she stood back up, fixed her skirt, adjusted her collar and got along her way, walking down the hall and back to the crisp packet. 

after that small snack she sniffed around for more food, which failed since the caretaker had just emptied every bin along the halls, well it was either the caretaker or some kind of ghost of a caretaker that was really dedicated to their work, even after death they still haunt these halls, cleaning up after huntsmen in training... but of course that's silly since ghosts don't exist. "miss ros-

"GHOST!" Ruby screamed skittering down the halls, hearing her pursuer follow swiftly behind her, of course, while ghosts where not real, that really did not stop Ruby for believing in them, no matter how silly that might be. 

"hush, I'm not a ghost" her pursuer said relatively softly, crouching down to Ruby's level, making her feel a little taller then she was... and she was quite small, only just having a few millimetres on this crouching blonde haired purple cape- Professor Goodwitch ?! Ruby quickly looked around for a way to escape, but she was unfortunately caught in a corner this professor crouched down in front of her, surpassingly not as hostile as Ruby dreamed an interaction like this would go, then again Glynda Goodwitch wasn't a six-armed demon with more horns than a horned lizard, so her dream was relatively… inaccurate. " what are you doing out here?" she asked, with a low voice, observing Ruby for any change in mood that would indicate hostility.

"Weiss shut me out," Ruby said very quietly curiously watching this professor, before that secen struck Ruby again, her nose twitched and she got to sniffing, surprising the professor as she was sniffled. 

The woman mainly smelt of water Lilly, but there was a faint feathery undertone, she perhaps knew Ruby's mother, a very long time ago, but she's at least met her. "You... remind me of someone," Glynda said, bringing up a hand, but Ruby quickly flinched away "what happened to you?" She asked quietly, but got little to no answer, Ruby just shyed away, she didn't like being here, in this situation

cornered. 

"Follow" Glynda then ordered, standing back up straight and walking away. 

Ruby didn't follow 

"I'll take you back to your careless owner, come." She then said, a lot softer, watching in curiosity as Ruby prowled forwards like a cautious cat, both of then where worried as to what the other would do, Ruby was unsure about new people, especially blondes they set her at unease, even though shes met this professor before, she did not make a good impression. While Glynda was unsure about how this stray would act, mainly because they are known to be unpredictable, and that she's heard about the young girl's violent activities. 

Almost as soon as they reached the dorm room even the professor could hear the shouting from inside. Ruby whined shuffling on one spot, Weiss didn't scare her, but she was very loud, and that scared her. 

The professor sighed before nocking on the door. 

The shouting stopped momentarily for Weiss to wrench it open, perfectly prepared to reprimand who was the one nocking on the door "miss Schnee, may I remind you that you have More than one Faunus in your dorm" the professor spat, pushing Ruby forwards. 

"Thank you!" Weiss shouted, dragging Ruby into the room a quickly slamming the door, holding it there until she heard it lock. "So let me get this straight, you were experimenting?" Weiss then said, completely ignoring Ruby, who jumped onto the heiress' bed... and watched? 

"Yes, I was experimenting" Yang replied, covering her relatively exposed body

"Ignoring the fact that this is a crime punished with life in prison and a suspension from all huntress activity, and that fact that Blake is a bloody Faunus. What in the world compelled you to "experiment" in broad daylight, when I was returning the very same day!" 

"I didn't know that! I thought you were coming back tomorrow! And besides, it wasn't daylight when we started!" 

"Ughera you whore" Weiss groaned "you could have experimented with someone else"

"Weiss you wouldn't understand" Yang growled, nearing the white-haired girl which then caused Ruby to growl, sensing the blonde's fowl intent "shut up you mutt!" She practically roared throwing the young wolf across the room, watching as she crashed into the wall and lay in a heap. 

"Don't hit Ruby! She has nothing to do with this!" Weiss snapped back, watching Blake rush to help her fellow Faunus. 

"Oh, so the ice queen does have a heart? Where was that when Nagetier died!?" 

"You leave her out of this!" 

"No! I will not! You simply don't care, Blake is special to me and you can't see that! You let your own Faunus get ripped apart by Grimm!" 

"She was already dead on her feet! We had been fighting for three days!" 

"Is that the same that's going to happen to Ruby? You get tired of dragging a dead weight and you feed her to the Grimm as a distraction so you can live on?!" 

"She asked me to!"

...

"What?"

...

"She asked me to," Weiss said a little more clearly "She knew she couldn't go much further, she was bleeding Yang, she was suffering, I couldn't let her go on, she didn't want to go on. She asked me to just let her go, forget about her and get a new Faunus, she sacrificed herself, I didn't... I didn't tell her to go, she ran in and lead the Grimm away so we could escape before I could stop her" 

"O-oh" Yang just said, her anger leaving her rather quickly as she realised her argument was flawed. 

"Look, I'm willing to pretend that whatever you were doing with Blake didn't happen, I don't want to know about you feeling intimate things about a Faunus." Weiss sighed "and for the gods can you put on some clothes!" 

"Right!" Yang yelped quickly throwing on some clothes "thankyou Weiss, I mean it, I owe you"  

"Yes, and you can start by apologising for almost killing my faunus!" Weiss screeched "she only tried to help! You didn't have to throw her into a wall!" 

"Ah," the blonde said, crouching down to where Ruby lay still crumpled up, whimpering every two seconds while Blake ran about the dorm room to collect supplies. "Sorry about that Rubes, I didn't mean to hurt you that bad" Yang sighed rubbing the wolf's shoulder, surprised as she was greeted by probably the nicest reaction she's ever gotten from the girl, and that was a very powerful sneeze from the dust she kicked up. "And I'll get you a tissue" 

"Here's an important question, where's her bed?" Weiss then asked, crouching down next to her Faunus and pulling the twelve-year old's head into her lap. 

"Ugh, Nora has it" Yang groaned watching Weiss stroke Ruby's hair, The girl shuffling onto her back before the small wolf glared at the ceiling, causing both the humans to look up at the ceiling. Almost missing Ruby suddenly jump to her feet, stumbling slightly before being caught by Blake. 

Well, she would have caught her if the pair didn't explode as soon as they touched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All faunus have atleast two traits, usually a tail and ears, most possess specialised teeth aswell, about half have claws ontop of that, few have specialised feet, And rarely they would have specialised hands. The most trates recorded in a single faunus are fifty, this faunus was more animal then anything else, this faunus is currently on display at Vale Zoo.


	8. Black feathers

7 days till ... evaluation

Aura, only very few understand it, only very few can control it, these people are called hunters, and they are human. 

Semblances are a manifestation of one's own soul, only humans posses a semblance, this leads most people to believe that Faunus don't posses a soul. 

But Faunus do, they posses aura, which is their soul, only very few Faunus posses both a aura and a semblance. Ruby Rose is not one of them, she may be the protagonist but that doesn't mean she's very special. Well... ok she is a little bit special, she's one of the only three Faunus who can manifest their aura. 

The other two? 

Well, I think we can all guess who they are, go on guess! It's not that hard. 

No?

Not playing today I see? 

Aww your no fun, and because your ignoring me I'm not going to tell you who the other two Faunus are. You'll just have to figure that out on your own, even though it's not that hard to guess. 

Anyway, back to are regular chapter. 

* * *

 "Blake!" Yang shouted, watching both Faunus go flying, the smoke cleared in a few seconds and all that could be heard was a light crackling from a surprisingly unharmed Ruby, who just grumbled. A red flame dancing across her body, Weiss curiously touched the girl's arm, the flames leaping to meet her hand, and licked her fingers before they sunk back into the wolf's flesh. 

"Wha- what was that?" Weiss asked, quickly grabbing hold of Ruby's arms and looking them over, finding no marks of any kind, and Ruby didn't seem to be in pain, at all. Weiss quickly grabbed the girl's leg and ripped off her boot, exposing her injury? It was... gone? Sorta gone, it was still there, but scarred. 

*CAWR* *CAWR* 

"Birdy!" Ruby squeaked jumping over to the window and opening it, watching and giggling as the large black "birdy" swooped into the room, scattering feathers across the floor, cawing a terrible sound, it's large claws carefully landing on the small wolf's shoulder, only causing her to giggle more.

Ruby nuzzled into the Bird's feathery chest, the large animal chattering it's beak before preening through the girl's dark coloured hair. Weiss watched as her faunus happily pet the large bird, it was far too big to be any kind of crow, perhaps... A raven? But ravens are so rare. 

"What in Remnant was that?" Yang practically growled, supporting Blake as Ruby continued to giggle and tickle the large bird. "And why did she let a bird in?"

"I don't know! She just used aura!" Weiss snapped pointing at the young wolf who now got a little bit confused. Ruby shrugged, wiggling over to her owner and snuggling up under the woman's arm, sending the black bird flying as it landed on a book shelf. "Ugh, hello" she sighed rubbing Ruby's ears. 

"That was what that was? I thought she stuffed some burn crystals under her shirt or something" 

"Ok, one, That would kill everyone in this room, Ruby included, two, burn crystals are not that volatile, it takes a lot more friction to get them to explode, and three, Ruby's allergic to Dust, she would brake out into a sneezing fit if she even inhaled the tiniest of particle, not to mention the horrid rash." 

"Wait, you picked Ruby, a Faunus allergic to Dust, to be your Faunus, bear in mind your a dust mage" Yang then inquired slowly 

"Well I only found out like three days ago" Weiss added "Its not exactly like I walked up to her in the street and gave her all my confidential and asked her a long list of questions regarding allergies and other personal information. Even so using dust around her doesn't seem too bad apart from a few sniffles, just raw dust seems to be the problem" 

"So... Are we just completely ignoring the fact Ruby just used her aura?"

"Currently? Yes, I'm far too tired to even care about that right now, besides she's alive Blake's alive, I'm tired and I'm going to sleep"

"Its two in the afternoon!"

"I don't care" Weiss grumbled, slipping under her covers, opening them back up a few seconds later for Ruby to slip under aswell.  "Only once, and that's because I'm cold" Weiss then added, feeling the girl curl up in front of her, warming up the cavity under the duvet. 

* * *

"Stop" Weiss muttered, blindly swatting at this phantom thing that was poking at her ear "Ruby, not now" the Schnee mumbled, but Ruby was fast asleep, curled up in a tight bundle of limbs clutching onto Weiss' shirt. "Off the bed, your not supposed to be here" the white-haired girl grunted, still trying to swat at whatever was pecking at her. Ruby just continued to drool into her owner's shirt, not even stirred by the young woman's movements, and even if she was it would take a lot more the a few words to get her to give up her snuggle spot. 

 Weiss grumbled again as she felt something shake her body, the poking continuing as she groaned "there better be a fire" she snipped opening her eyes to the long-beaked face of the raven, accepts, there were three of them. "Huh!" Weiss shouted sitting up and sending the birds flying, watching the one... two... three... four... five- thirty! Birds as they watched her with black emotionless eyes, all perched on every available surface. 

Weiss then very carefully slipped out of bed, being watched as every move she made was evaluated by this feathery creatures. Ruby on the other hand was left completely undisturbed, the birds making an active choice to avoid the lump as they watched the other people in the team, moving with every step Weiss cautiously took. "Why did I leave the window open" the woman groaned watching another Raven come to land on the ledge. 

"Hey, Weiss- whoa what's with the birds?" Yang then suddenly said as she entered, but almost immediately after every bird in the whole murder started to caw loudly at her. Surprisingly, Ruby still slept though the racket, though when a loud whining grumble was heard all the birds stopped, promptly then crowding around the lump under Weiss' blankets watching it and standing guard. " Ok... Anyway, professor GoodWitch is mad that you for slamming the door in her face" 

"I'll apologies to her later, what time is it?" Weiss asked changing out of her clothes and changing into an identical outfit, or her Wednesday jacket. 

"Err like Eight? You did sleep for like sixteen hours" Yang said looking at her scroll, as one thing that the young adults have never seen, happened. Ruby woke up, on her own, without any gloved hands of Weiss dragging her out by her tail. 

The young wolf petted the birds that surrounded her before slinking out of the covers, no growls, no people worrying for their own lives, no new scratch marks on the floor. Ruby just walked passed a shocked Weiss, taking a brief second to rub herself along the white-haired girl's side to then take the bathroom. "Wow, I never thought I would see that" Weiss commented. 

"Now you can die happily" Yang added patting Weiss arm " You try and get these birds out, I'm going to get breakfast" 

"How! The window is open and they just keep coming in!" Weiss shouted after the blonde who already closed the door 

"Weiss~ breakfast?" Ruby then asked, jumping up and down at her owner's side, but as suddenly as the ravens appeared they all suddenly disappeared at the word of breakfast, quickly rushing out the window. 

Weiss quickly sprinted to the window and slammed it shut. "Yes, breakfast" she then clarified smiling as the young wolf cheered happily and went to rush out the room if not for her owner to grab her collar "Only if you walk with me" 

Ruby grumbled gripping onto Weiss' arm and doing what she was told, though quickly having to stop to adjust her collar. 

* * *

"What is up with these birds?" Weiss muttered, watching them peck on the windows of the canteen, scaring a large majority of the mess hall.

"Theywf 'tracted to awra" Ruby then spoke up, her mouth stuffed with French toast. Giggling as someone made the mistake of opening one of the outside doors, allowing five of the birds to swoop in before it was closed, all of them landing in front of Ruby with items in their beaks. Three of them carried a branch of berries, one of them carried a dead mouse, another carried a letter, a sealed letter. 

 They all respectively placed their offerings and then flew off down the hall, which soon erupted in screams, and loud shouts of terror. "huh? Who would write Ruby a letter?" Yang asked picking the letter up before the young wolf could even grasp it. 

"I don't know, but whoever it is knows that Ruby might very well be one of the very few Faunus in this world who can read, even if it's not particularly good" Weiss commented, snatching the letter off the blonde and looking it over, trying to divert her eyes from her Faunus swallowing a mouse whole like a sea lion. "RR?" 

"Ruby Rose?" Yang asked looking at the initials on the seal 

"Usually seals are the emblem of the person sending the letter Yang" Weiss sighed tracing over the wing, it did kinda make sense, whoever sent this letter was defiantly responsible for all these birds, and knew Ruby well enough to go though all this trouble for her. But before Weiss could even pass the letter back to Ruby it was snatched out of her hands, a blonde professor practically glaring at the seal before storming off, her purple cloak flapping behind her as she rushed down the hall. "What was that about?" 

"You know what? I really don't care Weiss" Yang growled shoving bacon into her mouth "my dad called me yesterday while you were snuggling up to your fluffy wolfy, he said that he's sending over Zwei so he can go spelunking" 

"Since when did your farther like to go down caves?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow, stroking through Ruby's hair methodically, with the now full girl leaning against Weiss' side. 

"He doesn't, he's going to vacuo to hunt deathstalkers, those things live in caves you know, didn't you hear Pyrrha scream during initiation?" 

"Wait, she was responsible for that Deathstalker? We were crushing its eggs for weeks" Weiss sighed remembering vividly the deathstalkers that exploded as soon as Nora used Ren as a grenade, which covered the whole forest in its unborn eggs. "Hey, where's Blake?"

"Oh, she's around, probably got distracted and forgot to eat." Yang shrugged watching the little wolf with curiosity, their eyes connected briefly but Ruby just grunted, curling up properly under her owner's arm, completely content with the light rubbing of the heiress' slender fingers. 

"Huh, Blake is usually so focused" Weiss muttered watching the blonde start fidgeting on the spot, looking at all the none raven guarded doors "shall we go look for her?" 

"Yes!" Yang yelped quickly standing up while Weiss slowly stood, encouraging Ruby to aswell, since forcing the girl to do anything she clearly doesn't like is usually met with a mouth full of teeth. 

"Come on, let's go find Blake" Weiss said patting her Faunus' back, smiling when the girl gripped onto her arm. 

* * *

"Where is that cat?" Yang grumbled watching Ruby bounce about the halls with a wagging tail. Both Yang and Weiss have been watching the rambunctious puppy for the last hour, the girl's owner convinced that she could possibly sniff out the dark-haired cat faunus. But after an hour of looking they came up empty handed on the location of the girl, and it seemed Ruby was far more interested in exploring Beacon's extensive campus, then finding her Faunus in arms. 

Though both humans found themselves having to quickly run after the young wolf, who suddenly sprinted forwards, for a lame little Faunus she sure was fast. Darting around corners before she dashed into an open classroom, Ruby prowled around smashed desks sniffing through scattered feathers as the two humans took in the scene. The walls where covered in deep lashes, feathers the size of a whole human torso lay ruffled and bloody, desks where pushed to the sides and most where broken. 

"What happened?" Yang asked picking up one of the large feathers before something dark purple and shiny caught her eye. "It's Blake's collar," the blonde said lifting up the broken piece of clothing. 

"Was she attacked?" Weiss asked, rubbing Ruby's ears as praise for finding this place, and also so she could pull splinters out from Ruby's hands because she touched this place. 

"That bastard! When I find the person who did this I'll gut them!" Yang screamed gripping onto the collar and making Ruby jump. 

"Ruby, find the person who did this" Weiss instructed holding a feather in front of her Faunus' nose watching it twitch with every sniff the little girl made before she scurried down the corridor, being followed by the other two humans rather swiftly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> grey parrots can live for over fifty years when domesticated and can learn over three hundred words.


	9. That thing there, is not what i thought it was.

~~6 days till evaluation~~

Tracking didn't seem to be something Ruby was particularly skilled in, but then again Ruby didn't have much experience with tracking, but she was pretty confident that this trail was a means to an end, and not a load of splinters in her hands. though it seemed like the two humans where very happy with her amateur tracking skills, even though she lost the trail five minutes ago and was now following one of the ravens which decided to lead her somewhere for some reason. 

"are you sure this is the right way?" that blonde asked, Ruby was almost positive that the question was not actually directed at her even though it may seem like it, but it was met with a shrug from Ruby's owner. which didn't settle that annoying blonde's nerves at all, even more so the fact that Weiss has taken to trusting that Ruby wont run too far from her if given the freedom to if she so wishes... meaning they have been following a little wolf who has been startling every human and faunus she's encountered, having to be dragged away from bins, and then sometimes just sits in the middle of the floor refusing to go no further. 

but eventually, after an additional hour of searching they found another open classroom, this one seemed to be in a lot better condition then the other, with only one broken desk, Weiss curiously tried to switch on the light but it refused to work, after a quick inspection she figured out that the wire was cut... because it lay in scraps all over the floor.

"Ruby!" Weiss then suddenly shouted watching a terrible dark figure decend on her Faunus, its black cloaked shape springing out from the inky room, claws outstretched ready to snap the young wolf in half... but that never happened, the creature held Ruby pinned to the ground, it's long talons gripping around the girl's body as it leant down, long hot breaths puffed in the girl's face before it vaulted out the window, smashing it to pieces. two long pitch coloured wings unfolded in seconds as the creature took flight, carrying Ruby away kicking and screaming. 

though, in a sudden bout of idiocy Weiss launched herself out the window, grabbing fistfuls of dusty tail feathers pulling the screeching thing down to the court below, it's wings tucking on it's self protectively. thousands of ravens croaked a frantic tune, practically dive bombing the white haired huntress in training as the thing crashed to the ground, skidding across the flower beds, digging out a trench as the once white haired girl was dragged behind her. 

Weiss watched in terror as this beast stood, it looked at the schnee with rage, shrieking out a loud call with Ruby nowhere in sight, it then charged, Weiss shielding herself from the incoming impact only seeing it flicked to the side, using it's wings to shield it's self once again. the white haired young adult stood shakily, seeing … glynda Goodwitch standing there, massaging her wrist "Raven! stop!" she commanded earning a loud growl from the feathery creature, it's burning red eyes shining through it's shadowy cloak. "Raven, please!" the blonde said watching the thing with pleading eyes, after a minute of glaring at each outer eventually the large faunus left her violent position, watching the blonde professor scathingly. 

 "Can we just talk? Calmly, like civilised adults?" The blonde professor asked standing carefully as she neared the feathery creature who flinched away from the purple caped blonde.

"Fine" the thing muttered, a quite scruffy voice, following after Glynda while glaring a hole into the back of the professor's head. 

"Oh and miss Schnee, you might want to follow, I'm not entirely sure she didn't eat your Faunus" that comment seemed to make the white haired girl quickly rush to follow as well. 

* * *

 

"Where is miss Rose? I would rather like to know" Glynda asked sitting behind her desk watching the ~~thing~~  woman crouch down to the floor, and suddenly from the mass of feathery hair on her back

*pop*

Two red tipped ears appeared, slowly, but surely, Ruby reviled herself in a giggling mess, standing up and then being swooped off her feet by the smiling feathery Faunus, both of them nuzzling into each other. "Here" the woman smiled, pointing with a feather covered hand to the red themed wolf, her fingers less of fingers and more of bendable claws.  

"Ok... another question, where have you been for fourteen years?" Glynda asked trying to ignore the two Faunus' affectionate rubbing. 

"Patch" she answered rather easily finally sitting on a chair, her folded up wings taking up a quarter of the office which forced the two humans to shuffle away from the bird. 

"Do you think you would like to give an answer with more then one word?" 

"...maybe" the woman replied carefully combing through the young wolf's hair with her fingers. 

"Here's a better question, where's Blake?" Weiss then suddenly asked watching the woman stand up, still holding the young wolf bending about for a second before pointing 

"There, the cat right?" She asked pointing to a flag pole where there was a obvious lump at the top. 

"You say that like you kidnapped more then two people" Glynda commented 

"You know me witch, I never kidnap just two people, there was that whiny armadillo, a spiky thing, a turtle and a dog. All of them are somewhere, good luck" 

"Armadillo? There is no armadillo Faunus at beacon"

" Oh, mabey it was a person with a lot of armour" the ravenous woman shrugged still hugging the fluffy wolf. "Its hard to tell when your flying and they're squirming" 

"What are you? A vulture?" Glynda smirked 

"Mabey" she also smirked, sitting back down "but we both know that I don't have a stomach for rotten flesh, that's not my department" She sighed kicking her clawed feet up on the desk, sitting Ruby on her lap, but still hugging the girl very close. 

"You've gotten old Raven, you look damaged" Glynda sighed watching this dark woman fondly while Weiss just sat there curious with the two Faunus and how they knew eachother so intimate.

"Not damaged, lived" the Raven responded with a scowl, that is before Ruby smiled at her with a puppyish grin, giggling as soon as the woman thrusted her head forward, pressing her face against the little wolf's bony cheek. "Your so thin" she muttered running a hand down the small girl's ribs, her fingers strumming against them like harp strings. 

"She scarfs down anything I give her, I'm surprised she still so thin" Weiss sighed 

"Its only been little over a week, I'm still surprised she didn't gnaw your fingers off" the professor commented. 

"A week? She's been missing for four years" the Raven growled her claws gripping onto Ruby's shirt, dragging her sharp talon like claws across the fabric, pulling at the threads. 

"You've been missing for fourteen" Glynda grumbled.

"I was snatched! So was she! She just dissapered without a trace! She's only a child!" the woman roared her wings beginning to spread out as she spoke, pushing the two human's away more, it was obvious this woman had simply grown far too big to be in this small office.

"You where... kidnapped?" Glynda asked slowly 

"There's shadows in the trees that watch every Faunus that dares look into them too long. At first I thought Grimm, but my ravens would have sacrificed themselves before they let Ruby be taken by thoes beasts. she was taken by someone, I don't know who, but I'm guessing the same person who took me." 

"Who?" Both of the humans asked as the dark Faunus extended a long furry finger,  the claw pointing to a picture, the picture showing a young Glynda GoodWitch, standing crossed arms infront of a smirking bird Faunus resting against a simple long sword, both of them standing next to one particular blonde man, his arms full with a white cloaked, black and red haired, very happy wolf faunus. Practically the spitting image of little Ruby, apart from the young wolf's hair was a little darker. 

But that was all the two humans needed to know to understand.

* * *

 "This way!" Ruby squeaked jumping about while dragging the larger feathered woman through the halls, both of her small hands clasped around the woman's large feathery one. 

"Achally that way" Weiss then intercepted, pointing to the opposite position to what Ruby was about to go. 

"I prefer this way achally" the woman said opening a window and diving out of it, leaving the two in the halls to watch her skilfully retrieve the bundle of black and brown on the flag pole, easily swooping back in as a familiar cat faunus groaned, being held in the woman's taloned feet. "Is this Blake?" 

"Yeah!" Ruby chriped her tail wagging so much her whole body seemed to vibrate with it. 

"Sorry about that, but you did try and pluck me" Raven appologied shaking herself down and sending dust all over the floor, which was quickly cleaned by a small army of roombas, that instantly signalled for Ruby to start barking at them angrily. She still hasn't forgiven thoes evil disks from when they tried to Hoover up her tail. 

"That's after you tried to drop me through a window!" Blake shouted after wiggling out of her restraints, no help from Weiss though, she was far too occupied with dragging Ruby away from the speeding circles. 

"You deserved it" Raven shrugged, scowling at the sight of Ruby's jingling red and black collar, even more so at the fact Weiss was using it to pull the girl back. This then caused the large Faunus to spread her wings, using the large appendage to flick the heiress away from the young wolf, who chased after the vacumes until they dissapered though a hatch in the wall. 

 Raven growled at the Schnee, obviously upset with the young adult, but all that anger quickly dissapered when the small girl practically sprinted towards her, nuzzling into the old Faunus' side, being quickly lifted off her feet and setted in a mass of feathery hair, completely dissapering form sight. 

"I don't appreciate you treating my daughter like a lowly dog" the fuffly bird spat, causing Weiss to flinch, being followed by Blake who was still glaring at the woman, but in some way, she understood the frustration. 

"She is my faunus" Weiss grumbled, almost too quiet for anyone, no matter the species, to hear her. Almost, not quite enough though, because Weiss was suddenly flung across the corridor, smashed into the wall by a large black wing. 

"You have no right to call her that!" The woman screeched succeeding in terrifying the heiress. Weiss watched in terror as the woman growled, her dark aura crackling against her flesh, covering her in a black cloak of swerling flames. 

Raven must have returned that she's had enough, because she then jumped out the window, signalling for Weiss to leap after the woman, this time grabbing onto the bird's ankle. 

And she clung on for dear life, being flung and twisted every which way as the bird tried to throw her off, going as far as to purposely crash into the school wall and drag the heiress across the abrasive brick. 

So Raven deduced that the heiress wasn't going to let go, no matter what she did, so she did the one thing she could do.

she kept on flying. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cats groom themselves with a tongue designed as a comb, it has backwards-facing spines which help clean their fur, and mask their scent from pray.


	10. Faunus fuzz

~~6 days till evaluation~~

Weiss was trying to be as optimistic about this situation, she was soaking wet, she's swallowed more bugs then she can name and been dragged through the canopy of three forests. But at least she was alive, and still hanging onto this crazy woman's leg. 

Though after a while a land mass came into view, and suddenly a hoard of ravens fluttered up from the nearby forests, swaddling the flying figure in a much larger figure that resembled... a nevermore? Ah of course! Weiss thought they were flying over a human settlement, of course, this flying Faunus would need a disguise, a... very elaborate disguise at that. 

Sooner enough this guise of a nevermore left as soon as they crossed over the mountains, which also triggered for the feathered beast to start it's decent, carefully and masterfully navigating through the trees with its large wings, swooping and tucking through tight spaces, dragging Weiss behind her the whole time. Until they stopped, and Raven landed, watching with a smirk as Weiss finally let go with a loud groan, slowly standing up on her feet, showing off her front which was caked in mud. 

"Nice looks" Raven smirked, brushing herself of dust. "I'm surprised you hung on for that long" 

"I was trying to get back Ruby who you stole!" Weiss shouted before being growled at 

"Keep it down! Are you trying to get us killed? The forest is infested with grimm" Raven whisper shouted "I can't fly anymore, they'll find us" 

"Why can't you fly? You just spent the last three hours smashing me against the first thing you could see" Weiss huffed watching as the large Faunus rustled around bushes 

"You see that there? That's called a cliff" Raven growled pointing at the sheer rock face " I don't know if you haven't realised but my wings are rather big, far too big to fly five miles up against that thing, and if you don't stick to that rock there you won't survive to see dawn"

"So we're walking?" Weiss asked 

"Your walking, I luckily have a thoughtful Wife" Raven said leading a large equine out of the bushes, mounting the beast "see you in the after life, piece of shit" she waved, just about to ride off into the distance before Ruby wiggled out of her hair, slipping off the horse's back and sprinting over to Weiss. "Leave her, she was foolish to follow us" 

"No!" Ruby shouted " she has no aura! The grimm will get her!" The little Faunus projected, being hushed soon after by the large bird. 

"Ruby... I can't drag her anymore, and we need to make it back home before the sun sets, she'll only slow us down, then the Grimm will get all of us" Raven muttered, but Ruby refused, tears brimming in her eyes as she clutched onto her owner. Raven sighed, a long groaning sigh that seemed to never end "Fine, she can come with, but I'm not protecting her" 

"Yay!" Ruby cheered, hugging the woman's leg before being hoisted up onto the horse, nestled right up front, while Weiss climbed precariously onto the back. 

"This is going to be a fun day" Raven groaned 

* * *

"Summer~" the feathery woman called, slowly walking up to a small well-built house, hanging out the side of the cliff. "Come on, come out, it's only me, Raven," she said loudly sitting down in the middle of the clearing. 

"Raven?" A meek voice called causing the bird to smile. 

"Yup, I'm back" Raven sighed happily, making Weiss look at her strangely. 

"Raven!" There was a shout, and then a tall white cloaked figure launched themselves out of the bushes, missing the feathery woman by a foot and barreling into a tree. "You said you were here!" 

"I am here that's a tree" Raven laughed watching the woman look up blowing away her long black and red fringe, revealing a shiny silver eye. 

"Raven!" She shouted again, leaping onto the feathery woman, rapping her furry arms around her neck in a tight hug. 

"Hey, alright calm down there's a human here, and ... someone else" Raven sighed patting the wolf's back, watching as she stiffened. "Weiss, here, slowly" she called watching the white-haired girl carefully walk over. "Here," she said pulling Weiss down and then whispering "she's almost blind, half deaf and... I think you can guess the rest, just be considerate" 

Weiss looked at the woman, who took a second before making eye contact. "You smell like dog" Summer muttered, looking around the clearing "who's that?" She asked pointing to where Ruby was petting the horse. 

"Guess" Raven smirked 

"Your brother?"

"What? No! I don't trust about that twat, certainly not enough to let him that close to you. Ruby come here" Raven called, watching the small wolf gallop over, her tail wagging excitedly as she tackled the two in a strong hug. 

"Ruby?" Summer asked, bringing her hands up and cupping the girl's face, smiling at her sweetly "Oh your back! Where did you go? You were gone for so long!"

"I don't know" Ruby whined, wiggling out of the woman's grip and wriggling closer to her. 

"What do you mean you don't know?" She asked petting across Ruby's back, looking up and down her body, taking in everything she could.

"Don't know!" Ruby whined reaching up and gripping the older faunus' ear causing her to chuckle softly, flicking down her hood in one swift head movement, Revealing herself fully. 

Weiss just sat there in shock, taking in this tall woman, she now understood what Raven said about her being half deaf, the entirety of her right ear was cut off, leaving nothing but a short tuft of fur. "You don't remember?" Summer asked as Ruby nodded. "Huh" 

"You know what? I think that's a good thing" Raven commented, watching curiously as Weiss reached out and started to pet through Ruby's ears. Though luckily for Weiss, Ruby closed her eyes, resting against her mother with a small content purr. 

"Aww, puppy" Summer giggled rubbing up and down the girl's back, 

"Alright, it's sunset, get inside, I'll move the horse" Raven then instructed, signalling for Summer to stand up without question and quickly scurry inside the little well-made house. 

"Come on" Summer called beckoning the two inside "the Grimm will get you~" she called, Ruby limping over to her mother happily while Weiss cautiously entered the brick building, looking at awe at the large open space, this place was obviously built over the cave, a very big cave at that. "Matches" the older woman muttered, feeling around the counter of the dark room. 

"Here," Weiss said, passing the woman her scroll which was lighting up the work surface, but that didn't seem to help her search at all, but eventually a large box of matches were found, stuck, and a multitude of oil lamps were lit, illuminating the whole cave-house.

"Did you say something?" Summer then asked looking at Weiss for a second with blank eyes that seemed unfocused. 

"Never mind" Weiss sighed smiling when Ruby nuzzled under her arm. 

"She likes you~" the older wolf faunus laughed. "Don't let Raven know, she's a real sour puss, but she'll warm up to you in no time" the woman giggled before tripping over a chair, landing flat on her front.

"Are you ok?!" Weiss then asked rather loudly, causing Ruby to yelp slapping her hands down over her ears 

"I'm fine, just took a bit of a tumble" she smiled, but as soon as Weiss touched her shoulder to help her up, she scrambled away as quickly as possible, pure terror inset in her eyes. "Don't touch me!" She screamed, causing Ruby to quickly scamper towards the distressed woman. Weiss just stood there completely hopeless as to what to do, just watching Ruby wriggle into her mother's arms, forcing the furry woman to hug her. 

"What happened?" A low sinister voice said, making Weiss jump at the sudden presences of a tall feathery creature. Two scathing red eyes glared at the Schnee, as a clawed hand shot out from the shadows, gripping the heir's shirt and throwing her outside "You will stay there, you've done enough damage for one day" she growled leaving Weiss outside the safety of the cave-house, and away from her only life line/ chance of survival,

Ruby. 

* * *

"Weiss!" 

"Weiss!" 

"Weiss?"

*squish* 

"Augh! Why did you poke me in the eye?" Weiss asked jolting up from where she lay in a rather comfortable bush and then glaring at the excitable puppy, who practically bounced around her body, not stopping for even a split second. 

"I was 'aking sure your not dead" she beamed, her tail wagging furiously, she didn't seem to have calmed down at all since yesterday. "She alive!" Ruby then called, giggling happily when the two older faunus came out of the cave-house. 

"Humm" Raven sighed, her wings spreading rather wide "I'm going to go get some fish for lunch, Summer you hold down the fort" she announced, before then flying off with great speed. 

"Fish!" Ruby cheered, making the older faunus smile, both their tails wagging in tandem.

"Yes fish" Summer smiled rubbing the wolf's head "Come on, let's go do something fun, and your little friend can come too" 

Weiss sighed, letting Ruby run over and grip her hand, dragging her inside the cave-house, dragging her deeper and deeper into the cave, oil lamps lining the walls and revealing large collections of swords and guns, aswell as a very messy sleeping area made completely out of animal fur. but Summer kept on walking through, leading the two to another door, a door which took a few seconds for her to open, but once the door was open Ruby flung herself out, being stopped only when her mother rapped her arms around her stomach mid-jump. 

"No, you don't have fur it's too cold" she declared, pulling the girl back and sitting her down in the doorway. 

"It's not that cold" Weiss scoffed, trying to distract herself from her Faunus' puppyish pout. 

"You're from atlas aren't you?" Summer asked which the heiress confirmed "Well you don't feel the cold as much as I do"

"You're covered in fur! Also, why are you covered in fur?" 

"Err, I'm forty-something and most Faunus don't live to thirty, but Faunus grow fur when they get older" she shrugged, rubbing up and down her arms that were covered in black and red fuzzy fur "want to feel?" 

"No thank you" Weiss quickly declined watching the woman shrug

"Your loss" she just answered, walking forwards into the large space, birds set perched on every available branch, preening and or socialising, watching everything. Three dusty equines stood munching on bushes, while one rolled in the grass, flicking their green blades up in the air.

Summer was by no means an intimidating charter compared to her apparent feathery wife, Weiss noted. The skittish old Faunus seemed more war torn then anyone Weiss has ever seen, her ear cut off, another mangled, her tail short, the bony end almost visible, something caused it's limited length, perhaps a Grimm or otherwise. her face covered by scars, one of her eyes swirled in a milky blindness, the other unfocused and struggling, perhaps scratched by grimm or otherwise. She walked with a favouring for one side, much like Ruby did but more exstream, her right hand missed one and a half fingers, her left only one half, bitten off by Grimm or otherwise. She didn't present herself as beastly like Raven did, nor as proud and defiant as Ruby did, she was meek, calm, collected, if not a little clumsy, but her hands no matter how shaky or mangled, refused to bare their sharp claws, her hands where always held out while she walked, trying to grip an invisible chain. Her tail swayed timidly, brushing up against trees and feeling the tops of bushes, feeling the bright landscape for the woman, revealing what she could barely see, by no means was she helpless, she didn't seem to be the person to allow herself to grow helpless and decend into a blind deaf inky world. She was old, far older then any Faunus Weiss has ever seen, like professor GoodWitch said 

Damaged. 

But perhaps it wasn't just the body and mind the professor was referring to, this world was so cruel, perhaps it was Grimm or otherwise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> female birds keep their young safe and warm by stuffing the chicks into their feathers, swans even let them ride on their backs.


	11. ash of a burning fire, must of a wet feather, dust of a horse's fur, and a whisper of a blossoming rose.

5 days till evaluation

"Your name? What is it?" Summer asked, her voice bearly louder than a whisper as she addressed the heiress. 

"Weiss, Weiss Schnee" the white-haired girl answered, watching the Faunus with curiosity as it smiled slightly. 

"Raven said you took Ruby as your Faunus," She said with a cheerful voice, like always, lifting up a hand made basket of grain while Ruby just stayed sat in the doorway, watching with a bored expression, but her whole body was shivering lightly, as Summer said, it was rather cold. 

"Y-yes I did, is that a problem?" Weiss asked squeaking when a large powerful equine, almost knocked her over to get to the grain. 

"That remains to be seen, but I do appreciate what you did for her, not many humans would take in a Faunus like that. I can tell she likes you though" the woman smiled, sighing slightly as she starting to spread it out for a large collection of plump chickens.

"You do know I'm going to have to return to the city, I need to continue my education and that means I need Ruby to come with me. You and Raven could come with" Weiss then proposed 

"living out here isn't perfect, it's much like the old fable about the girl given a bucket with holes in the bottom and asked to fill it with water, You're never going to get anything done if you can't figure it out yourself. life would be much better in the city, but we would get shot, we're old, we have no owners, and Raven refuses to submit" 

"But Raven has an owner, she's the headmistress at beacon academy" Weiss added. 

"Glynda? Glynda GoodWitch? I could have sworn that old witch died a long time ago. but as I said before, Raven refuses to submit, neither of us would take well to a new owner" Summer sighed, unclipping her cloak "Ruby, come here darling"

"Comin' " Ruby quickly answered, limping over to the two people, and then quickly being swaddled in her mother's cloak. 

"Wear that, and you can go play" she instructed Ruby pouting soon after before scurrying off. "I appreciate the thought, what you have done for Ruby and anything else you did that I don't know about, but Raven and I are simply too old for anything like what you have in mind. Our aura is waining, and I'm not the spriteful young wolf faunus I used to be two decades ago, my vision is almost gone, along with my hearing. I would be shot on the spot, a lame Faunus is a useless Faunus, no one, no matter their situation would take in a lame Faunus" 

"You know Ruby is lame, she apparently got attacked by a beowolf and it tired to take off her foot, it won't heal correctly, some of the bone was pulled out by the beowolf. She's lame. But that didn't stop me from taking her in, even after I found out she's allergic to Dust, I kept her, and I'm a dust mage. She's rude, untrained, picky, constantly hungry, aggressive, she can't walk very far, she's not very strong, she doesn't even listen to me half of the time, but I still kept her despite all those things, because I knew that if anyone other then me took her, she would be shot on the spot" 

"Your farther doesn't share your views, but as I've said, I'm thankful for your actions. But when Raven returns I would need to ask her to look at this beowolf bite" the woman commented, smiling when Ruby came over to her, holding one of the plump birds her mother worked to cultivate. 

"I caught one!" She chirped her tail wagging as Summer patted her head, before then the chicken struggled and wriggled out of Ruby's arm, scratching the girl in the process and making her Squeak. 

Ruby then jumped, quickly running behind Weiss and gripping onto her owner's jacket, digging in her claws while whining. " You're ok, it's only a small scratch" Weiss sighed, bending around and rubbing Ruby's ears, wrinkling her nose when her Faunus began to lick her wound. "Well that's unsanitary" 

"Did you say something?" Summer then asked tilting her head in confusion. 

"Nothing important" Weiss sighed feeling Ruby's ears twitching under her hand "what is it?" She asked, watching hef faunus' lips peel back to reveal a set of white sharp animal like teeth, as a low growl admitted from her throat. "Ruby stay back" the heiress instructed, drawing her dust powered rapier. 

"Ursa" Summer said, her nose twitching as she took long deep breaths "I can smell its rotten teeth, it's old" 

"I need you to get inside" Weiss instructed to the older faunus, tempted to push the woman inside the cave-house, but also fully aware that touching the woman in any way would be a very bad idea. 

"No" Summer growled, just as a light pinkish red drifted from her core and decorated her flesh in a cloak of calm red sea. "You two need to get inside" she instructed, stretching her aura in a sharp blade protruding from her hand. 

"I highly advise against that!" Weiss shouted watching the Faunus leap into action, completely missing the target by a meter, smashing a tree into splinters, which revealed the big black beastly bear which flick away Ruby's mother easily. The big black beastly bear then charged for Weiss, who was luckily prepared compared to the Faunus javelin. 

With a simple touch of the shoulder Weiss drew out Ruby's aura, summoning three spinning glyphs which turned dark with intensity, as soon as the big black beastly bear made contact with the glyphs, ice erupted from the snowflakes freezing it to the ground, allowing Weiss to use an additional glyph to electrocute the big black beastly bear watching in triumph as it disintegrated away.

"We did it!" Ruby cheered her tail wagging quickly as her owner smiled in pride, petting the girl's ears, rubbing them between her fingers while the Faunus leaned into the white-haired girl's hand. 

"Alright, sit" Weiss commanded, watching the girl quickly drop to the ground and doing as told "now stay, I'm going to go find your mother" the heiress sighed, leaving her Faunus sitting on the ground surrounded by terrified chickens, who where still running in circles despite the danger being gone. 

"I'm ok!" Summer then shouted, dragging herself through the undergrowth, blowing her long radish black hair out of her eye. "No need to worry, I'm ok," the woman said, running up to the white-haired woman, stopping briefly to shake off a combination of leaves, sticks, spiders, caterpillars and grass.

"Good" Weiss sighed relief flooding over her as she no longer had to fear for a huge Raven swooping out of the sky and killing her in one slash for letting her so-called wife get hurt.

So Weiss sat down next to her Faunus who quickly climbed into her owner's lap, flopping onto her back and giving the Schnee an excited look. The girl's tail wagged quickly while her arms lay tucked up against her chest, awaiting praise, which subsequently made her white-haired owner laugh slightly, rubbing the girl's stomach as a reward. 

Though her rubbing was interrupted by loud flapping, as what could only be described as a ruffled wet Raven, carrying a humongous salmon which instantly caused Ruby to roll onto her feet, quickly going to inspect the big fish. 

"Raven!" Summer then shouted, launching herself at the bird Faunus, nocking them both to the ground with a loud squawk, the dark creature made Weiss' Faunus yelp when it looked up at the two. Watching as the small wolf sprung herself onto her owner's side, gripping with more strength then the heiress has ever felt from the girl, all as they were watched by two scathing red eyes that shone through a bone carved, white-beaked, mask of a nevermore. 

* * *

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you, it's only a helmet" the dark-haired bird faunus apologised, trying to pry the small wolf girl away from her owner, nothing seemed to be working for the bird. not even food, Ruby just scoffed it down and went back to cuddling up against Weiss' side. "Come on Ruby, I said I'm sorry" 

Ruby just gripped harder onto Weiss, who at this point had no idea what to do, she was stuck between just going with it and just staying rigid, she could taste feel and smell the anger rising in the black-haired bird faunus. 

"Raven, be nice, **you** scared her after all, no wonder she's not going to like you for a bit" Summer sighed, still slowly chewing on a huge lump of cooked salmon like it was a piece of stale bread.

But that comment seemed to make the bird growl, which didn't help anyone. "In the morning I'm having you gone, I will take you back to Beacon and that will be the end of it" 

"Raven! What about Ruby?" 

"She will stay here like she is supposed to be! She wasn't meant to get caught up in any of this! None of this is any of her fault it's all because I fucking... RAA" 

"Raven, please, don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault that this happened, how do you even know it was him?" 

"Summer, for fifteen years there has only ever been five humans on this side of the island, one of them moved to vacuo, three of them were killed by Grimm, and he's the only one left" 

Weiss just watched this bickering go back and forth, going absolutely nowhere. Ruby still clung up to her side, wrapped up in her mother's white cloak while her owner just stroked her ears. 

"Doesn't Ruby get a say in this?" Weiss then asked silencing the two Faunus who stared at the human blankly.

"She's too young to understand what's best for her" Raven huffed sitting back in her seat while Summer unfortunately agreed, and then going back to eating.

"She's twelve, she has to have some sense of what's good for her" the white-haired girl added, her hand slowly running over the twelve-year old's hair, which was doing more than a good job to settle the little wolf. But it did little to settle the two much older faunus' anger, Summer didn't seem to mind at all, she wasn't even all that interested in her wife's rants and more on her hunk of salmon, slowly picking through it like some alien flesh which she needed to eat for survival but really didn't want to. While Raven fumed for every second she looked at Weiss and her Faunus, even more so when every once in a while Ruby's collar was revealed. 

"There's a reason why twelve-year-olds don't run kingdoms" Raven growled, sending a heated gaze towards the heiress. 

"Actually there was that one king who ruled over vale at the age of six" Summer then butted in, completely ignorant to the glare sent at her as she picked through the layers of her fish. 

"Twelve-year-olds don't run kingdoms because they aren't huntsmen yet, it has nothing to do with their level of self-awareness and general level of intelligence. Ruby may not be the sharpest arrow in the quiver but she has a clear understanding of what could be harmful and what isn't."

"I watched you take down that Ursa, she doesn't run from Grimm, anyone who recognises that something could be harmful wouldn't let a Grimm get that close" 

"That's only because I trained her to not run away from them, I can't kill Grimm if my only support in battle is up a tree. Even still she almost bolted, because she's learnt to recognise Grimm with hurt, she was attacked by a beowolf after all" 

"She was what!?" Raven shouted, causing both other Faunus to yelp, the bird quickly stood and pulled a lamp off the wall, practically slamming it down on the wooden table inside the cave-house "show me the proof" she demanded. 

Weiss sighed running her hand down her Faunus' back, pushing the girl onto her chair properly before starting to unstrap her Velcro boot, tugging off her sock, carefully unwrapping the soft bandage that was only there for support and then forcing the leg up onto the table for everyone to see. The lamp was moved slightly but it gave a flickering orange glow which illuminated the clawed foot, showing the prominent deep almost translucent white pits, six of them that dotted themselves in a sloppy ark around the girl's lower leg upper foot and concentrated at her ankle. Ruby was confused by why they were so interested with her foot but her confusion passed when Weiss continued her stroking, her hand passing over her ears, brushing them back and letting them pop back up like a fluffy springboard. 

"You said, Grimm?" Raven asked, tracing her hand across one of the puncher wound. 

"I didn't personally, my teammate's Faunus is aid trained so she looked at her as soon as I noticed the wound was there" Weiss informed, thinking for a second and then adding "she was the cat faunus you tied up and hung from the flag pole" 

"I kinda guessed that when she bit me" 

"How was that an indicator?" 

"Medics like to bite people" Raven shrugged prodding around at Ruby's ankle, until the little wolf quickly whipped round at the bird faunus, emitting a loud feral growl at the dark bird. Raven jumped at the sudden display of hostility, watching as the twelve-year-old bore her teeth tucking her limbs into her body protectively. "Look at you being all dangerous" the raven smirked, getting up and walking around the table, not stopping for a second as Ruby continued to growl, it growing with intensity as the bird strode forwards, her wings and feathered tail sweeping across the cool stone floor, along with the scraping of her talons being filed down by the rock. 

"Raven, she's not bluffing" Summer warned, not even looking up from her mess of salmon which she was still very slowly eating. 

"Oh please, she's not going to do that much" Raven scoffed, kneeling down next to the small wolf, in a split second there was a loud roaring growl and Ruby lunged forwards,  clenching her jaw around the woman's furry finger as a loud crack filled the cave, echoing across the walls of the cavern. "Huh," the bird just said, holding up her clawless finger, watching the small girl spit out the black talon letting it slide across the floor. "Well, ow" 

"Told you" Summer sighed, before then bolting out of her seat, scrabbling away deeper into the cave-house. Ruby whined loudly, clamping her hand's wrist arms down on her ears, very nearly collapsing onto the floor as she yelped yipped and Whined out in pain. 

"What's going on?!" Weiss shouted over her faunus' pained cries, crouching down and trying to pull her arms away from her own head before she hurts herself. 

"Supersonic hunting call, some of the trappers in the village travel over the mountains to get deerskin, they use whistles to scare away the coyotes." Raven sighed, just waiting for the loud howling of the two canal Faunus to stop, and eventually, it did, Ruby pretty quickly trotting off soon after presumably looking for her mother. "They only happen like once a week, but Summer can't really hear them so she just gets hit with a lot of pain and she doesn't know why so she runs and hides" 

"How did she even lose her ear?" Weiss asked following the bird as she swept through the cave, looking for her wife and daughter. 

"Her last owner wanted to breed her, she didn't want to so he took a knife and cut off her ear a little too close to the base." Raven sighed, wrapping her wings around herself like some kind of safety blanket. 

"That's just cruel, no Faunus should have to go through something like that." Weiss grimaced.

"Her owner succeeded in a way... kinda, my brother found her and one thing led to another and now we have Ruby." 

"No offence, but I've seen a lot of wolf faunus, why would someone want to breed Summer?"

"Sell the pups for a hefty profit, Summer and Ruby have a unique fur colour, not to mention their eyes. Sparkle as bright as a night star but they are sensitive to light" 

"That explains a few things" yeah like how Ruby will sometimes blatantly refuse to go outside, mental note Weiss, buy Ruby sunglasses and hat. 

"Yeah" the bird muttered solemnly, that is until they stumbled upon Summer herself, the Faunus sat in the middle of the floor curled around Ruby. "hey puppy" Raven said rubbing the old wolf's ear "It's gone now" the bird said to no response, making Raven sigh "are you just going to stay here?" Nod "You want me to go?" Shake "are you cold?" Shake " are you going to keep using Ruby as a teddy bear?" Nod "You do realise your trousers are falling down?"

"Raven!" Summer shouted, pouting slightly. "I don't even wear trousers, it's a skirt " she muttered resting her chin on her daughter's head, feeling the two big fluffy ears of the girl twitching against her cheeks. 

"I'm only kidding puppy" Raven sighed just as Weiss suddenly got an idea.

"Why don't you two come to vale? I'm sure I could ask my sister to arrange something for the two of you" Weiss then proposed, watching the two Faunus as they muttered between each other, until Raven turned the white haired young adult.

"we'll think about it"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a baby platypus is called a puggle


	12. Whispering

_watching the young girl try and slither away through the mud._

_"Of course you don't" Weiss sighed, 'she has to be the only Faunus in Vale that doesn't look too much like a war victim' but after a few minutes of feeling the sodden wolf struggling weakly Weiss decided this Faunus was better than nothing "come with me" the heiress growled, tugging along the little girl which was better than nothing._

...And then she kinda grew on me" Weiss sighed smiling slightly when Ruby splashed out of the water holding a fist full of water weed, dragging the green mess onto the bank before wading back in. 

"She has a tendency to do that" Raven smirked tilting her head a little "What is she doing though?" 

"Whatever it is, it could be anything" Weiss muttered "I've learnt to just leave her to do what she wants to" 

"Wolves in the wild spend a lot of time in packs which teaches them a lot of the do's and don'ts, and because the only wolf Ruby has probably ever been around is Summer here, she's going to be a bit territorial, antisocial, and ... probably a little violent" 

"She bit my teammate four times, a little violent is an understatement" 

"Four? You let her do that?" 

"I don't like my teammate, I don't care whether Ruby claws out her eyes or rips up everything she owns, the only thing respectable about that oaf is her cat who has more of a mind then she does. Ruby doesn't bite anyone else, so I don't see it as a problem" Weiss shrugged, sorta enjoying the look of grouchy old Raven being shocked. 

"I like your method" Summer then spoke up, her tail wagging softly as her bird wife continued to stroke her head. 

"I don't" Raven grunted, "But that's beside the point, I don't like the idea of letting my daughter galavant around with a human and only end up getting hurt, and as much as I would like to follow you two around for the rest of my life and then probably in the afterlife as well, going to vale wouldn't be much of a good idea, not for Ruby you or myself, but Summer, the last time she even spoke to a human asides from... well you, it didn't really go well" 

"As I said, I could talk to my sister, she's part of the atlas military and organising accommodation for retired Faunus, to honour to their service." 

"What's the name of your sister by any chance?" Raven asked, her hand softly stroking across Summer's head like the bird faunus was petting some kind of cat. 

"Winter, Winter Schnee" Weiss beamed before going off on a tangent about how amazing wonderful and radiant this snowy god is and how much the huntress in training admired this young adult and her powerful collected and independent nature, and how she was honoured to be taught everything she knew about aura manipulation, Faunus care, faunus welfare, aura control, sword skills, dust skills, semblance skills, everything a Huntress would need to have a refined grasp of to be successful. 

Raven, on the other hand, was contemplating everything she stood for as a Faunus, she knew her boundaries and she also knew that she has far surpassed everything society would condemn her for. She has no regard for anyone, apart from two very important little wolves in her life... And some minuscule shred of mindfulness for her little brother. But she also knew Weiss' motives, This Schnee wanted to Ruby to be her faunus, something Raven didn't approve of after all her life was destroyed by selfish humans who wanted a faunus. But Raven was contemplating whether Weiss had pure intentions, she obviously cared enough to not even suggest that she would just separate Ruby from her parents who have been looking for her none stop for four years, even going to suggest accommodation for the two Faunus to minimise separation, this was tricky for the bird faunus to decide. 

Ruby was currently thinking about how god damm cold the water is but how fun it is to jump and splash around after the swift-moving trout that wiggled and squirmed around her feet and hands as she tried to catch one up in her hands or mouth. The closest she's gotten is gripping the slimy strong fish in her clawed fingers, clamping it in her sharp nails, lifting the squirming creature out of the water only for it to wiggle free of her grasp before she could chuck it onto the grass. 

Summer was currently thinking about... how, oh so ...good~, her wife's, slow, combing, feathery fingers felt on her scalp, they filled her head with happy feelings and made her short tail lightly hit against the stone in rhythmic movements. Summer has long stopped caring about Raven and Weiss' conversation, and more focusing on the good things, Summer's lost but precious puppy has returned to her, how? She didn't know, but she also didn't care. Ruby was back! And all was good, she could feel the wind blowing sweet grassy scents of wildflower from the distinctive muddy river bank which squished underfoot when she crouched down to drink, the warm mid-morning sun was raising her body to a comfortable heat as she lay in her wife's soft wing. Summer loooved slow lounging days like this, she wished she could spend the rest of her short life basking in the sun, her precious daughter, which she worked for nine long years to feed, raise, protect, educate, and train, in her arms while she basked alongside grouchy Raven, the woman who dashed to her beck and call at a single squeak for as little as being startled by a falling leaf, ready to defend Summer and Ruby with her life in seconds, that would truly be perfect for Summer. 

"What are you looking so happy about?" Raven then suddenly asked, raising her voice which caught the wolf's attention. 

"Nothing, I'm just happy that Ruby's back" Summer muttered, nuzzling further into Raven's side. 

"Alright, wake up, I need you to answer a few questions" the bird faunus sighed, rubbing the woman's shoulder, rousing her into something more than her loafing laying about. 

"What is it?" The wolf mumbled, rubbing her eyes before hissing, not enjoying that mistake which provoked her sensitive scars. 

"It can wait, come on" Raven then sighed, her voice bearly louder than a whisper in Summer's ear, but as the cloaked wolf was dragged down to the water, the cold liquid being splashed on her face and lifting away the stinging pain. another person joined them, Wriggling under Summer's arms, the old wolf smiled as two pairs of furry ears tickled her chin, and the sweet scent of strawberries and roses filled her nose, the wolf simply sighed happily, wrapping her arms around this small wriggler's chest. "Does that feel better?" 

"Much" Summered smiled, the cold water helped ease away from that mistake, a bad habit the old woman hadn't grown out of since this form of punishment a long time ago. 

"I know your eyes probably feet gritty, but just be careful" Raven advised, a low chattering sound coming from her mouth, all when she nuzzled her face into Summer's own. 

"I know" the wolf responded, holding the much smaller version of herself close, feeling the girl's tail thumping against the woman's stomach. But the constant hitting didn't hurt, it made Summer smile, a wide smile in knowing that her puppy was happy, very happy.

"Aren't you two cute" Raven chuckled, her wings flapping slightly.  

"Shut up" Summer muttered, holding Ruby close to her chest. The two wolves spent a few seconds clinging onto each other before standing/ Summer standing up and just letting Ruby hang from her stomach refusing to let go.

"She was worried, you looked like you where in a lot of pain," Raven said, reaching out and rubbing the bases of Ruby's loabious ears, watching her close her eyes in bliss. Her tail curling at the action, as she obviously enjoyed the careful rubbing. "But I think she just wanted cuddles" the bird-like woman chuckled observing her daughter as the old wolf made her way back to the rocks, sitting down with Ruby in her lap.

"I don't mind cuddles, cuddles are always welcome" Summer giggled, holding her pup close, practically smothering the girl in her chest. "What did you want to ask?" 

"I wanted to talk to you about going to Vale, I know you don't like being around that number of humans, but Ruby doesn't like it here she needs to go back to Beacon, but I also know you wouldn't want to leave her again" 

"You really don't like it here?" Summer asked, rubbing Ruby's back as she looked down dejectedly. "Ruby?" She asked again, not really seeing the small subtitle movement.

"I like being with you, but here is really bad" the girl whimpered, Summer's hand stroking down her back to try and ease the girl's fear of speaking up against her two powerful parents, but the old wolf's efforts where unfortunately not working, no matter how many times she ran her hand over the girl's tail. 

"If Ruby wants to go back to Vale, she can and we will come with, I will cope" Summer answered looking determinedly at the dark bird, who nodded. 

Later that day Weiss contacted her sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is estimated to be 161,000,000 Faunus on remnant, 0.9% of which are located on Menagerie, the last location where wild Faunus are found. Due to Mystral law through these Faunus will likely remain undisturbed for thousands of years to come under the 4678 Faunus conservation act which prevents humans from entering menagerie in fear of bringing over diseases such as the deadly whitefang and fatal snout rot, which are harmless and undetectable in humans but life-threatening in unvaccinated Faunus.


	13. Dr sparkle pants

3 days till evaluation

*Acho!* Ruby sneezed, sniffling up a droplet of green snot.

"That's a mighty big cold you've got there," Raven said as the young wolf whimpered, nuzzling into the bird's back. 

"Yeah and it's your fault, the water was feezing" Summer huffed, watching the bird faunus carry the wolf on her back. 

"I'm sorry do you want to carry her?" Raven growled, the small girl resting her chin on her shoulder, her face flush and constantly sniffling from a runny nose. 

"I'm good" Summer quickly declined but she did rub her side across Ruby's, they both shared a few huffs, nuzzling against each other and having a whole conversation in just one minute. "How long until we make it to the base of the mountains?"

"I'd say another hour, then I'll carry us into the village," the bird faunus said looking between the four off them "one at a time though, I haven't fully recovered from dragging princess and Rubbules across the Leviathanpass" 

"Should you achally be carrying Ruby if your conserving energy?" Summer asked her ear twitching slightly in the breeze

"She's no that heavy, and even if it was too much she can't walk very far on her own, and I'm not going to make her do anything with a fever." Raven sighed, as just on que Ruby sneezed again groaning with a loud whine before nuzzling into her... step mother's? Neck. "And while you are strong enough to carry her, i don't want that kind of strain on your body for the hour left of this walk" 

"Fine" the old wolf pouted before then looking towards Weiss, who was saying... Something into her scroll in some angry foren tongue that Summer obviously didn't understand "What's she saying?" 

"I don't know but i can guess she talking to her sister" Raven answered listening to the conversation and not making any sense of it, and Ruby just rested her head on top of the large bird's shoulder, her arms gripped around the woman's chest, all while her ears remained drooped, suffice to say the small girl looked absolutely miserable. "You doing ok pup?" 

"Muh" Ruby just mumbled turning away briefly to go into a coughing fit before turning back to the position she was in before.

"Poor baby, you'll start feeling better soon, try and get some sleep" Raven instructed feeling the girl wiggle a little before then closing her eyes, obviously making an attempt to sleep. 

Summer came over and nuzzled her head against Her wife and daughter, expressing her worry for the younger of the two, especially considering the severity of her sickness. But after a few minutes more of walking Weiss pocketed her scroll rejoining the three Faunus, looking towards the two adults "Winter said that she should be fine, but she's bringing her vet with her just in case" the white-haired girl said which eased the two slightly as Weiss rubbed her faunus' cheek with the back of her hand, the little wolf smiled slightly before nuzzling into her stepmother's neck, biting onto the collar of her shirt and nibbling on the fabric, not that her stepmother minded.

Then again the bird faunus seemed to be more concerned over what was going to happen in the next two hours instead of the growing wet patch on her shirt. "Raven?" Summer then said catching the bird faunus' attention "whatever happens I want you to promise me that if I refuse, you will force me to do it" 

"But-" 

"Just promise!" The wolf faunus shouted making Raven sigh 

"Fine, if you refuse to do anything, I'll force you" Raven agreed, regretting her decision, but no going back now.

* * *

 

"Winter!" Weiss cheered standing up from the bench she was left on as this white-haired, blue-eyed, military specialist walked up to her, followed by an unimportant person who I'm going to call Mr sparkle pants for this small section where he's relevant... kidding! I'll let him introduce himself and he is relevant. 

"Good day sister" the atlas specialist greeted a bit confused by the fact she could only see her sister and a small Faunus girl curled up on the bench, "I thought you said there where two other Faunus" 

"There are, but they are right there," Weiss said pointing to where Raven soared above the small village, her large black wings casting a huge shadow underneath before she descended down, swooping easily with grace, impressing both the vet and the Schnee. Raven gripped onto a fence with her clawed feet, landed, and with flapping her wings one last time she set Summer on the ground. "Raven Branwen and Summer Rose, the two Faunus I told you of sister" 

"Who's the little one?" Winter asked pointing to where Ruby lay curled up which also attracted the other two faunus' attention, more of Raven's who was holding Summer very close trying to control the old wolf's ridged nature. 

"She's Ruby Rose, my Faunus" Weiss introduced, crouching down and stroking the girl's cheek which earned the white-haired girl small tail flick, and a huff, before she then wiggled closer to her owner.

"She has a bad cold" Raven growled pointing a glare at the two humans with sceptics, while her wife hid in her wing, obviously trying to stay out of sight. Though that plan was ultimately destroyed when Raven left her standing there in favour of carefully lifting the girl off the bench, avoiding scratching her with her large claws. 

"My name is doctor Polendina, would I be allowed to look her over?" The short, plump, black-haired, green-eyed, lab coat wearing, man asked obviously getting the idea from Raven that no he wasn't allowed considering she held the girl closer. 

"Mine" Raven declared, stretching out her wings and startling the two humans with the display of large purple tinted black feathers, staiting very clearly to back off. but then Raven was shocked when Winter caught her attention, bowing politely to the bird faunus. Raven hesitantly spread her feathers and bowed in response, her tail fanned and her wings behind her, straightening up and waiting for what Winter will do. The Schnee responded by bowing again, but this time she lifted her head first when she came back up, which Raven copied with more of a flurish, this continued a few times as they bobbed their bodys and heads to eachother. Until Raven prowled nere, she looked over Winter as the Schnee stayed perfectly still, trying not to provoke the feathery woman. 

"You have lovely wings" Winter contemplated watching the woman look away from the compliment, allowing the Schnee to turn her attention towards the limp girl being carried in Raven's arms. 

But Summer seemed to be far more interesting for Raven, especially considering the old wolf was practically hiding behind Weiss. "She doesn't seem to be very responsive" Dr Polendina commented looking at Summer who quickly latched onto Raven's arm, her short tail wagging while the old wolf nuzzled into the Bird's shoulder. 

"She's almost blind, and she can bearly hear" Raven grunted, bringing her hand up to shield the woman's eyes from the midday sun which helped the wolf considerably, but unfortunately the loud harbour they were standing on and the potent scent of sea water was clogging up Summer's ears and nose.

The doctor ... vet, proceeded to near fairly interested in the old wolf who just stood there clinging onto Raven, who's mear presences calmed the woman. "Simply dreadful, I wouldn't want to imagine what or who caused this to such a wonderful specimen of wolven Faunus, but I'm assuming young miss Schnee is the current owner of her young daughter" 

Raven nodded, shuffling the young faunus into a better position which also showed the girl's red coloured collar, which was loosened to not be so tight on the sick girl's neck as to not hurt her anymore then the harsh coughing was. 

"She looks a little under the weather but nothing more then a bad cold," the veterinarian said, very carefully stroking Ruby's ears, In order to not disturb her too much. But the small Faunus seemed to appreciate it, which satisfied the out her faunus, especially Summer who spent the whole time standing there sniffing the air around dr Polendina, who helpfully offered the woman his hand to inspect. 

"Old Faunus tend to not trust easily" Winter then said to her sister, who was still shocked that she managed to get that close to Raven without the bird faunus snapping the Schnee in half. 

"How did you do that? It took me hours to stop Raven being so hostile" Weiss asked, making her older sister smirk 

"Birds love to show off their feathers, I just gave her an opportunity to" The military specialist shrugged, "I'm glad you contacted me about these two, I knew their cases seemed familiar" 

"Familiar how?" 

"Well, Raven Branwen and Summer Rose are both documented as dead" 

* * *

"Come on Summer" Raven encouraged trying to urge the old faunus onto the bullet ship, which really wasn't working, Summer dug in her heals at every opportunity she had. 

Raven had no trouble being on an airship since flying was second nature to her, and even Ruby who has never been on an airship came quietly but wanted to be by a window. Summer, on the other hand, refused to move, so the dark faunus sighed, walking up to the cloaked woman, and in one swift motion she lifted her bridal style clear off the ground. "Raven!" Summer shouted struggling against the bird.

"You were taking too long, now let's go" Raven responded. 

"Your so mean! Put me down!" 

"Not until your on this airship and the doors closed" 

"Raven!" 

"No" 

"When you put me down I'm going to punch you so hard it will brake every bone in your body and then I'll gut you like a fish, cut up your...

"That's it let it all out" Raven sighed as Summer continued to growl out hollow threats, up until she was sat down next to their daughter, who was propped up by quite a few cushions, looking outside the shaded window with interest. Her tail wagged when her frustrated mother sat beside her "now be nice, we've talked about mutilating people before" 

"Your no fun" Summer grumbled, wrapping her arm around her pup's shoulders and letting the girl rest her head on her chest.

"I'm plenty fun" Raven huffed sitting on the floor and preening her huge wings, putting her back to the two wolves as she glared dangerously at the workers who scurried up and down the airship in order to get it in the air. 

Summer lovingly held Ruby in her arms, grooming the small girl with her hands and tongue, protected by Raven's powerful presence. "Mum~" Ruby whined pawing at the older wolf which was ineffective at stopping the woman from cleaning her ears. But once Summer declared her to be clean, Ruby wriggled closer to her mother, enjoying the cuddling. but when the airship lifted up, the small wolf panicked, obviously not used to the sensation like her parents where. 

"Hey it's ok, don't worry" Summer sighed rubbing her daughter's shoulder causing Raven to laugh. 

"You reassure her but you acted like a scared cat before" the bird chuckled being hit on the head by the wolf. 

"I will still gut you" 

"I would love to see you try"

"I wouldn't doubt you would" Summer grumbled turning away just as Ruby jolted from yet another coughing fit, groaning in annoyance before nuzzling into her mother's chest. The older woman just brought up her hand and gently threaded her fingers through the girl's hair and lovingly petting. "Who are they?" Summer asked, rolling her head over to the humans, her nose twitching in their direction. 

Raven sighed, before then quickly explaining to her wife who they were and to Raven's understanding what they were doing, the bird faunus then returned to her preening once she was confident that Summer was satisfied with the information. 

"Would it be ok for me to look at her?" The short, plump, black-haired, green-eyed, lab coat wearing, man asked the question more or less directed to Raven then Summer who was far more occupied by her daughter. 

"You can try but she does bite" Raven warned, watching with interest as the veterinarian neared closer to the old wolf, it took a second, but it was mainly Ruby who reacted in her fully awake state, growling at the doctor, while Summer copied her daughter. "And there's your answer" 

Dr Polendina frowned slightly before reaching out with his hand, letting Summer cure her curiosity by snuffling at it, her growling stopped as she calmed, Ruby, on the other hand, did not. But Weiss had a solution to that, she produced a jar of Amber coloured semi-liquid and tapped it against the metal arm rest, watching with a smirk as the small wolf sprung over, sitting in front of Weiss waiting patiently with a wagging tail. "Someone likes sweets" Winter chuckled. 

"These aren't just sweets" Weiss smirked, holding the sap out to her Faunus watching her greedily lick up more than an eighth of the jar before her eyes drooped and she collapsed to the floor snoring "these are sweets my teammate's Faunus accidentally contaminated with horse tranquillizers" 

"Blake? She's usually so perspective, and why do they give field medics horse tranquillizers?" 

"I'm not sure myself, it didn't help that Blake can't read, she was kinda basing her choice of the stickers the head nurse put on the bottles"

"Makes sense" Winter shrugged, watching Weiss' faunus drool across the rubber mats on the floor snoozing peacefully. "At least you have a handy way to calm your Faunus"

"While true her drool is soaking into my sock" Weiss then said pointing to her designer shoe, which Ruby was resting her head on. The two Schnees then proceeded to lift up the sleeping Faunus and lay her back down where she was laying before, near her melted mother who was sprawled out on the floor enjoying an intense back scratching session. 

Which is proving to be one very efficient way to get on the good side of a spooked Faunus. 

* * *

"Finally got Summer to allow me to give her a check-up, Raven aswell and they are a pair of broken Faunus, I'm surprised Summer is still breathing" Dr Polendina sighed looking over a clipboard "She's missing an ear obviously, she's been lasered across her face, severely damaging her vision, multiple healed stab wounds two on her shoulder five on her lower back, one on her left ankle, and one on her thie, counting to be nine in total. she's missing three fingers and six toes, shes also missing two teeth, her tail is cut in half, I thought it could be genetic but if it was Ruby would have it to so it's not. But the most interesting part of her is the fact she's not a pure wolf, she's actually half cat, her claws are retractable and she can purr, which makes me believe she's wild caught, and with her age she probably is" 

"And Raven?" Winter asked walking across beacon landing pad. 

"Less interesting then Summer, but still interesting, she has scars covering her chest legs stomach wings joints and shoulders, they are all consistent with each other and seemed to be caused at the same time suggesting they are caused by a wire possibly from a snare, she also has eczema on her legs" the veterinarian read off "I'm prescribing her some cream for her eczema" 

"What about Ruby?" Weiss asked 

"Ruby is relatively fine, her ankle is healed up but she has bone lost in that area, she's not going to be able to use it properly again, she's still underweight but it's not life threatening anymore. And asides from the bad case of the sniffles and the fact she nocked out on horse tranquilizers she's perfect" Dr Polendina smiled reading over the girl's page  "But I will be giving her some cough medicine and a throat soother"

" so where are they now?" Weiss asked turning to her sister's recommended vet. 

"I had all three be transported to a room in the school building, mainly to keep Summer calm in a stable environment, but also Ruby was getting particularly cold she's rather small even for her age so she's enjoying indoor heating and a heat mat" 

Weiss just nodded smiling slightly at the mental image of her Faunus rolling about in blankets like she likes to do with her bedding, and how she likes to cuddle with her fluffy tail.

God her Faunus is cute.

* * *

 "I like that human" Summer commented snuggling up to Raven's side being swaddled by the woman's wing. 

"Which human? There where three, the guy who touched your butt, Weiss, and weird Weiss" Raven listed off, patting Ruby's back as she cuddled with the bird's breasts 

"No the round man, he smells like peaches," Summer said making a circle with her hands to emphasise his roundness. 

"I think he has a name" 

"I don't think I care" 

"Dr Polly? Pelly? Something with a P and an L"

"I prefer to call him the round man" 

"The doggy said that clouds taste purple" Ruby giggled giving her parents a drunk look 

""Of course they did"" both Summer and Raven sighed 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Young Faunus who grow up with minimal contact with other Faunus usually grow attached to inanimate objects. They can also be more aggressive, shy, and hesitant in social situations. But they can be calmed from any agitated behaviour with positive praise from a careing owner, and many toys which the young individual is attached to, these two methods can be used long into adulthood.


	14. Raven Branwen

2 days till evaluation

"Should I wake them?" Weiss mentally asked, lingering at the door of three Faunus, contemplating whether to open the door, it was nine in the morning yet she was positive Ruby wouldn't have woken, but she wasn't completely sure about the other two, and she wasn't completely sure she wasn't going to be skinned like a cow for slaughter if she woke them. 

Come on Weiss, your a Schnee, you are not afraid of a few Faunus... No matter how scary they can be. 

So Weiss opened the door, carefully closing it soon after as to not to disturb the three Faunus. Dr Polendina wasn't joking when he said they where enjoying indoor heating, though Ruby did wrap herself in a heavy duty blanket, the other two where both cuddled in each other's embrace, Summer piled on top of Raven like a bundle of limbs being held together by the bird faunus' furry arms all while Ruby lay in the woman's wing, wrapped up in a blanket, suckling on her mother's ear. 

Weiss breathed shallowly, stepping carefully as to not wake the Faunus, but it was inevitable, as one of the floor board creaked Raven groaned awake, her head rolling over to where Weiss stood mid-step. The bird faunus just looked at the Schnee for a whole minute before yawning, slowly sitting up as Weiss pried open the window, letting a cool breeze sweep through the room and rouse the remaining Faunus to awake land. 

Both of them whining like new born puppies waiting for fresh milk, as they rolled around the human bed, pining for something in a strange sleepish language that was jibberish to the two other... people type things, but between the two wolves it seemed to make some sense to each other... Or they are so individually half asleep that the grumblings of the other makes sense, somehow lining up with meaning. 

"Breakfast" Ruby mumbled sitting up while holding her blanket around her shoulders she yawned shivering slightly before nuzzling into her stepmother's side. "Breakfast" she repeated, clawing at the woman's shirt, expecting the bird to somehow produce breakfast out of thin air for the very purpose to feed the young wolf. But Raven just rubbed her face, before then slowly picking the girl's claws free from her shirt one by one. "Breakfast" Ruby said in a more demanding tone, rakeing her claws back down her stepmother's shirt despite the bird's attempt at trying to remove her claws. "Breakfast!" Ruby then shouted, making her stepmother groan, almost completely giving up on removing the girl's claws, that is until Ruby's claws got stuck in the threads of the bird's shirt signalling the start of three very frustrating minutes for the young wolf. 

"Breakfast will come in a minute" Raven groaned, untangling her daughter's small fingers from her shirt, which took a bit longer then the little wolf would have liked.  

Though Ruby then huffed and turned her begging elsewhere, mainly Weiss since Summer had fallen back asleep... while sitting up. Weiss sighed and did one thing she knew would calm down her hungry wolf, so the heiress sat down on the floor producing a comb. Weiss tapped the floor with her manicured nails waiting a few seconds before Ruby dashed onto her lap, curling up as Weiss started to comb her ears. 

"I do this far too often" Weiss sighed stroking the girl's fluffy tail. 

"Every morning?" Raven asked 

"Yup" 

"So some things don't change" the bird faunus chuckled slipping off the human bed making Weiss notice one very small detail about Raven "i will claw your eyes out" Branwen when the heiress looked up to continue her conversation, that is that despite the terrifying black plumage covering the bird faunus' body, the woman had one 

Tiny

Tail

Weiss snorted into her hand at the full view of the little bit of bone and skin, that was bearly visible under the stems of multiple feathers that where attached to it. But unfortunately for Raven, feathers didn't count as a tail. 

"She's got your hand" Raven pointed out watching as Weiss slowly looked down to her hand where Ruby was nibbling her fingers from lack of combing. 

"Its fine, it's doesn't hurt " Weiss shrugged 

"That's how it always starts"

* * *

"Breakfast!" Ruby demanded, slamming her hands down on the table which surprisingly didn't draw any attention, mainly because all that attention was on Raven "I eat knives for a midday snack" Branwen, who had made two people pee themselves by simply walking through the canteen door. "Breakfast!" Ruby shouted again her tail wagging just as Weiss came back to the table with a plate piled high of food items, mainly bacon. 

"Happy now?" Weiss asked sliding the plate over, getting a happy sound as response as Ruby stuffed toast in her mouth. "Are you sure you want bland oatmeal?" Weiss asked Raven. 

"Bread isn't particularly good for my stomach and scrambled eggs make me uncomfortable" The bird said, scowling at her daughter's food like it skinned a new born kitten.

"So... how do you like your eggs, there's a wide selection"

"Raw" Raven snapped back, shovelling the oats into her mouth, stopping just as the headmistress walked over, carrying something that caught both Faunus attention, even if Ruby had just stuffed herself with more food then her stomach should be able to physically hold. The young wolf just seemed to be constantly seeking food.  

Professor GoodWitch then carefully sat down next to Raven who shuffled closer to her young daughter, who was very excited about what the headmistress was holding. While Weiss knew whatever the headmistress had, it probably wasn't for Ruby... no Weiss was incorrect, Ruby was given a peace offering, that peace offering being a whole bag of cookie snaps. But GoodWitch still had one bag left, that bag was full of assorted nuts and seeds

And lots of them at that 

"32% cashews, and 12.3% sunflower the rest are a surprise" Glynda smiled passing the bag to the bird who squwarked looking in the bag with interest. 

"If your trying to convince me to come back and be your Faunus, me and Ruby are not the people you need to bribe" Raven then spoke up "But I appreciate the bribe" 

"Did Ruby at least fall for it?" 

"Ruby will fall for anything if you bate it sufficiently, no more" Raven interupped, taking the half eaten cookie snaps away from her daughter "she was mortally starved and it left a bad habbit" 

"How did you know that?" Weiss asked "it took a hour long visit to the vet to come to that conclusion"

"You tend to notice things like that" Raven answered smugly before that smug demeanour faded "and she told me" 

"She told you? Just like that? The first word I head coming out of that girl was her screaming bloody murder while calling me a ghost"  Glynda pondered 

"One I'm her mother, two that's weird and three, why?" 

"It was dark and she was creeping around!" Ruby then shouted "there where weird noises that where strange and confusing and then she walked up behind me with this weird face" 

"I was smiling!" 

"It was weird!" 

"You look scared! I was trying to be comforting!" 

"It was weird!" Ruby shouted again, growling at the headmistress launching herself at the blonde, before being caught by Raven, Raven sighed holding her daughter down as she struggled, slowly petting the wolf's hair until she calmed down. 

"Yeah wolves don't appreciate people smiling at them, it tends to confuse them" the bird faunus sighed, rubbing the young wolf's back as she the girl sat on her lap.

Raven physically relaxed, her wings slowly drooping from their tense position. Raven Branwen didn't seem to be a particularly bad person, but she instilled fear, demanded respect, when ever she walks she walked with purpose, her long talons that connected to bone and made up her feet, dragged across the ground. For a Faunus, no, a person, she approached everyone with an expecting attitude. 

Some students questioned her as they walked past, muttering between their friends as the looked at this dark feathery woman who almost broke a boy's hand by opening a door, carefully caressing this delicate little girl's face, all her claws curled inward as she stroked a rosy cheek with her fuzzy knuckle.

To Weiss, Raven seemed to be far more caring then her own mother, Raven occupied her time with her daughter, she praised encouraged played with her daughter. it seemed like no matter what Ruby would do Raven would ruffle her hair and tell her that she was doing a good job, it made Weiss think about what her own life was lacking, that in these two Faunus she could see... 

Weiss could see a lot, so many things that where different between humans and Faunus, and yet there where so many similarities. 

Raven physically was quite imposing, her expressionless face held like a light house, waves of prejudice licked the underside of her chin like they would lap at the rocks that a beacon would stand on. Her wings where large, protruding from her back like a feathery cloak, hiding the light that her scathing red eyes emitted. She wasn't a person you would associate with mothering instinct on first look, maybe Summer would be something you would picture despite the woman's unfortunate disabilities. 

But out of the two parents, Raven seemed to be more important to Ruby, while it was obvious Ruby regarded her mother highly, and loved her dearly, she just didn't seem to be as connected, and Summer didn't seem to be as connected aswell. Perhaps it was to do with the fact Summer was slowly descending into a world that lacked input, into a reality that was completely dark, completely silent, that Summer was slowly pushing her daughter away to ease the inevitability of her life, but perhaps it could be something else. 

Raven... Raven Branwen didn't appear to be the person who just let the tumbling waters consume herself, she didn't allow things to just be because they just are. Ruby has never been regarded as just Raven's daughter, never as just Summer's daughter. Weiss had watched the two parents hold their daughter's hands between themselves, their furry arms speckled with grey, their claws turned inwards as they cradled their daughter's delicate hands in their own. 

Ruby was Summer Rose and Raven... Rose's daughter, but her image wasn't one that the other two faunus painted onto a tissue paper canvas, Summer moulded the little girl out of damp clay, her silvery eyes made by misfortune working critically across her creation, Raven was the one who allowed the clay to dry in the sun, baked it carefully in a oven, and painted it. At least that's how Weiss would like to imagine that's how Ruby was brought into the world. 

Raven had a few, not many, but a few similarities between Weiss' mother. Which was strange for Weiss to comprehend, that a Faunus could resemble someone like Schlecht Schnee, but The resemblance was only physical.  Raven looked like Weiss' mother after downing seven bottles of wine and then walking around shaking hands with every suit of armour in the Schnee manor, with red eyes, black hair, wings, a feathery tail, and claws for feet. 

But personality wise Raven was the exact opposite, the bird faunus was caring, welcome to hugs, and didn't talk to inanimate objects, at least not any more then Ruby does. 

"Alright little buddy, let's go wake your mother" Raven smiled patting Ruby's back. oh yeah and that, Raven also treats her daughter as an actual person, maybe in a different world, in a different life, Weiss could somehow regard the woman as her own mother...

Yeah, that's not going to happen without someone brings skinned. 

* * *

"Raven, where are you? Why do I smell oat meal?" 

"Because it's a healthy breakfast option and you know eggs make me uncomfortable," The bird faunus said, loudly walking up to the wolf faunus who wagged her tail, smiling in surprise as Ruby launched at her, hugging her mother. 

"That's only because you don't know wether you lay eggs or not" Summer chuckled, stroking Ruby's... neck "Ruby's here" she then turned to Raven "Raven's there" before she looked at the doorway pointing to Weiss "Weiss your there" she staited, before then looking to the blonde "who's that?" She asked 

"Right, Summer I want you to be as calm as you can" Raven instructed, looking at her wife who was being very confused, sitting down still stroking Ruby's neck before she realised her blunder and changed her position. "You remember Glynda? Glynda GoodWitch, class six four one, riding crop, blonde hair, green eyes, uses purple Glyphs... one of four people who knows my favourite seed type" 

"Oh that Glynda... yeah I only know one Glynda, Raven" Summer chuckled not noticing the headmistress' shocked face. 

"Oh my, what happened to you Summer? Everyone thought you're where dead, that you were killed in a Grimm attack" Glynda said, rushing over to the old wolf faunus. 

"I was **almost** killed in a Grimm attack, and it wasn't particularly accidental" Summer sighed, stroking Ruby's hair "You know when people say that Faunus just love to 'run off into Grimm territory'? Yeah it's a youthanism" 

"That explains so much" Glynda sighed "I'm assuming the Grimm are the reason for everything else?" 

"Not a lot actually, they snapped off my little finger and gave me a cool scar on my back, everything else... was caused by another Grimm like being" Summer smirked, "but its good to meet you again Glynda, you're one of my least hated humans next to Weiss, Weiss's sister, and that round man"

"Round man?"

"Yes round man, he smelled like peaches! And he touched my butt" Summer chirped " he was a vet"

"What happens to you two? You both look so... damaged" Glynda asked, carefully stroking Summer's long hair, pulling out small knots and sitting on the bed near her. 

"Damaged is a good word for it" Summer commented, her tail softly twitching against the mattress. Glynda moved out of the way when the only wolf flopped back on the bed, patting their girl's back who remained clung to her stomach. "Raven"

"Yes, Summer?" Raven asked, coming closer to her wife

"Tell her everything" 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faunus hybrids are so rare because they are only found in the wild, domestic Faunus tend not to interact well with other species of Faunus. But in the wild, they are allowed to become a lot more internment without modern breeding constraints.


	15. Parchment

2 days till evaluation

* * *

 Raven sighed, bringing up a chair and sitting "I believe the story starts about twenty five years ago,back when team GRST where formed, we where the best team in the whole academy, we could destroy Grimm faster then anyone else. 

But then after we all graduated from Beacon the team split up, Tai-Yang took Summer with him to patch while I stayed in vale with Glynda. We stayed in the field for a few years until Goodwitch here became a teacher, I was basically retired at that point which was cool. 

A few months later Glynda and I got news that Tai had a kid, and then a few weeks after that, Summer had been killed. 

And then there years later I was sent on a mission, the mission was grim extermination I think but I was apparently the only faunus that could possibly be compatible with Tai-Yang, the mission went on with little trouble apart from the fact I never came back. Tai-Yang basically refused to let me go back. 

I spent two years in his cabin, cooped up, bearly moving, watching over his little child who would run absolutely everywhere, pull out my feathers and didn't let me rest. One day I don't know what it did, but it hurt, a lot, I lashed out and I don't quite remember what happened next. 

I just woke up tied to a tree far out in the forest of patch, I stayed there tied to that tree for five days until someone came and found me 

And that someone was Summer, she was missing bits and pieces her hands where missing fingers and her tail was snapped in half, she could see a lot better back then, and hear better too. She carried a little bundle around with her and cut me free, I followed her to a small dug out den 

And then I met Ruby, back then Ruby was only this little cherub that had bearly opened her ears, and dragged herself around with the same nimblity of a new born giraffe, she had this little nub of a tail and had almost no fur, spent her whole day eating, sleeping, gnawing on leaves and clinging onto her mother like a little ape." Raven said chuckling slightly when Ruby came over "Yes you, little monkey" the bird faunus smiled, holding Ruby close as she sat on her lap, hugging the girl to allow herself to continue. 

"But anyway, Summer said that she had met my brother, or at least who she thought was my brother, considering he smelled sorta liked me had my brother's emblem, big black wings like mine, a tail aswell, red eyes and a obsession with tree fruits. She said she talked to him, and he was nice, until he grabbed her round the neck and gave her half of Ruby, and Summer said that she wanted to leave patch, that it was dangerous, but my wings at that time where too mangled to fly

And well then Summer told me what happened to her that Tai-yang tried to breed her, I won't go into much detail, but he got angry stabbed her, a few times cut off her ear, and then well..."

"Gloved !" Ruby chirped her tail wagging happily as Raven lightly patted her head.

"Gloved is a new one, explain," Glynda asked 

"Errrr Summer?" Raven asked placing her hands over Ruby's ears 

"Fine, but know I will not look happy while explaining" the wolf faunus growled "It's when you take a knife, cut around the skin, then rub it between your fingers until you can easily pull -"

"No more! Thank you" Glynda said, shivering at the image.

"It's what happened to my tail, I can say, it's not the coming off that hurts it's the first three minutes after that are peak agony, and you put test the theory about bones being able to feel." Summer said casually watching the headmistress turn various shades of green and then run into the bathroom, filling the room with retching. "Well I'm happy now" 

Raven rolled her eyes watching as Ruby's ears popped back up as soon as her hands left "Your ears are so springy" she chuckled stoking Ruby's ears back and watching as they continued to jump right back up.

"Leave them alone!" Ruby whined hiding her ears under her hands

"Never they're fluffy" Raven chuckled, petting the girl's tail "sooo fluffy" the bird faunus cooed practically smothering the girl in a strong hug "you've still got all your puppy fluff, it should have fallen out by now, but you're still fluffy" the bird faunus gushed "your still my little puppy!" 

"Get off me!" Ruby whined, kicking at Raven's stomach. 

"No~ your little kicks are like a baby bunny's pawing" Raven chuckled patting Ruby's back "Anywho, you stopped vomiting?" 

"Yes, please don't mention gloving again" Glynda sighed sitting back down on the end of the bed. 

"Anyway, essentially Summer ran off into the forest one day and basically became a Beowolf chew toy, which didn't particularly end well, but by the time I had recovered from the snare there was no point in leaving patch... so we didn't, we just stayed there. 

And then one day, we all went to sleep and woke up with Ruby gone, no foot prints no nothing, she just disappeared" Raven sighed, her feathery hand stroking over her step daughter's feathery hair "and I'm not sure Ruby remembers" 

"I don't remember a lot, everything before I met mister Foxy is a big blur" Ruby then added 

"Who? What?" 

"Mister Foxy, he's super smart I've known him for a while like a year or two," Ruby said with a wagging tail. "He taught me a lot of things and helped me, he gave me food, clothes, he even taught me about the tainted food" 

"Tainted food?" Weiss asked 

"Humans hate stray faunus, they poison us with bad meat, it kills everyone who eats it, Mr foxy said to never ever take food from a human, unless they groom you first" Ruby said, her tail wagging rather quickly, just as Raven carefully combed her hair with her fingers. 

"Is there anything else you can remember?" 

"Not really, things just get really fuzzy, the last thing I can remember was being in a forest surrounded by Grimm, Mr foxy saved me and brought me to vale before I left in search for..." Ruby trailed off, obviously struggling to recall what she was looking for "you, and you, and something else" the wolf said pointing to her two mothers before then going quite "I can't remember what" 

"The Ravens will watch you now, I will ensure that we do not lose you again" Raven growled, almost shoving her head into Ruby's shoulder. "What else could you have possibly been looking for?" 

"I don't know, something, something big! Really big! Bigger than any faunus Human-animal or Grimm that every lived! Something that would change everything" 

"What you were looking for doesn't exist Ruby, nothing that huge could ever exist, and even if it did, it would be long dead" Raven sighed. 

"Not necessarily" Summer then spoke up " my mother and father once told a story about a creature that twisted around the moon and swallowed the sun, that in it's claws it held life of all creatures" the old faunus added, "it rode the mountains like a great elk, and granted all with gifts of both Semblance and aura, but a selfish human wanted all the power, declaring that faunus where insignificant. But the creature granted all humans it's wish, it took away faunus' semblance, and gave it to the humans, but human's aura disappeared being given to the faunus, as punishment for asking, the humans where given a power that they couldn't use without cooperation.

But like Raven said, if that creature, if that God existed, it would be long dead" Summer then concluded "my parents where insistent on that point"

 "Maybe" Ruby shrugged slipping off her stepmother's lap "but mister foxy knows a lot, maybe he knows what happened to me" 

"Is he really that last thing you remember?" Weiss asked, intrigued by what her faunus was saying, even more so when the little wolf nodded. 

"I guess we need to talk to this 'Mr foxy' then" Raven commented using air quotes around this mystery character's name.

Surly a little hop into vale wouldn't be too catastrophic. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some faunus have been known to attack their owners, unfortunately, they are usually put to sleep for their violent behaviour. Even if fighting was the only logical thing to do.


	16. Dog house.

1 day till evaluation.

Vale had scientifically and quite literally some of the most random weather on remnant,it's location near the Vacuo band ment that warm air was swept up to the kingdom while at the same time storms from the mantal circle drifted down and blanketed the city in thick black clouds. This weird combination equated to a lot of rain, a lot of sun, and a lot of people who just stop caring if a great sky dragon is roaring in the heavens while they are shopping. 

Weiss Schnee was not one of these people, she was drenched in rain, her clothes providing no shield from the fridged gusts of air that blew through the streets, if her shivering grumbling body was anything to go by it would be a safe conclusion to say that she is absolutely miserable. 

Ruby didn't appear to be particularly bothered, then again she was half tucked under her stepmother's heavy coat and half shielded by the woman's large wing. 

Raven... just did not care, she simply kept on walking, shielding her daughter from the wet weather and... finding slight amusement out of watching the drowned rat of a heiress sprint between shelters underneath the gables of towering old buildings. 

The plan was to try and find this person that Ruby knew, but after searching for an hour to try and recall the faunus' memory, the likely hood that they will find this guy was starting to get rather slim. That's until Ruby stood stock still in the middle of the road staring down a alleyway. 

She then pointed and announced that where they needed to go was this way down the creepy alleyway, seemingly shielded from all light that graced everywhere else with it's presence. 

Once they entered the alleyway they became engulfed with this strange silence as the sound of bustling streets was blocked out and quickly replaced with the the scraping of Raven's claws scraping across the concrete floor, the clicking of Weiss' heels as she was glad to be out of the rain, and the light sleigh bell of Ruby's tag, jiggling against the buckle and loop of her collar every time she takes a step. 

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Weiss asked sceptically, sure Ruby was her faunus, and some people say faunus are man's best friend, but if this whent sideways Weiss was not trusting this little wolf for a long time. 

"Yes" Ruby nodded, slipping away from her stepmother's coat, leading the way though the winding passageways, over fences, around bins until they reached a shady area with one singular door that had no handle. 

There in the middle of the clearing, sitting in a rubber mat was a huge crocodile faunus, his eyes close and his elongated mouth open as he enjoyed the rain patterning against his shirtless skin, no owner in sight, no collar in view. 

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Raven muttered watching Ruby inch closer to the large man, hearing him hiss loudly when they accidentally splashed a little puddle, his long crocidilian mouth snapping shut as his small reptilian eyes opened. 

He didn't speak, he only stood up and moved closer, smelling the air, sniffing Ruby more specifically "you three need to talk to the mistress" he then declared moving over to the door, using his claw to unlock it, pushing it open for the tree. 

Raven and Weiss where both wary as Ruby bounded forwards happily, slipping through the door waiting for the other two to follow. "Who is she talking about?" Raven asked struggling to get though the small door with her large wings. 

"Snake lady!" Ruby chirped her tail wagging as she bounced down the dark hall, the sound of dubstep getting louder when they reach the end, both adults stood at this huge wall while Ruby fiddled with her scarf, pulling it free of her neck and just wiping it against the wall for a bit. 

After a few seconds of this wiping a door in front of them opened, revealing a huge room, loud music blasting through amps, atleast a hundred faunus where sitting at tables laughing chattering showing off, but most importantly, eating. Some of these faunus had collars, others didn't, the occasional human could also be spotted. Rabbit faunus dashed between tables serving out food of all kinds aswell as drinks.

There where a lot of faunus here, all of different shapes and sizes. 

"We need to go talk to snake lady" Ruby declared pointing up to a second floor where there was woman with a red dress, leaning against the banister, watching the crowd from up above. 

The small group came over to the stairwell ascending towards a rather secluded area, Ruby leading the troop with a spring in her step, and a perky wagging tail. 

Ruby sprung towards the lady who was watching them come close, small flickers of a pale pink tongue parting from her very slightly scaled lips, her black hair was held back by some kind of clip.

A small smile gracing the reptilian's face when the little wolf bounced over "you look cheerful" the snake greeted, reaching out with her scaly hand towards the young wolf's head, petting her fluffy hair "it's been a while Rose, something tells me you've been having a walk around remnant" 

"Woah! How did you know?" Ruby asked amazed, her tail wagging quickly as this woman rubbed her ears. 

"Lucky guess" the woman chuckled "it seems you have brought friends... and what's this?" The snake asked holding up the edge of her collar, her fingers rubbing over the girl's bone shaped dog tag. "You've got an owner, well done to you Rose" 

"She's there" Ruby said pointing to Weiss, causing this creepy smile to spread across this snake's face. 

"And who's the other one?" The woman asked, her tongue flicking a few times as her eyes became more and more dangerous. 

"My mum" Ruby introduced, grabbing onto her stepmother's feathery hand and pulling her over to this snake lady who hissed loudly at Raven backing away, leaving Ruby to have to shake off the feeling of having her hair pulled. 

"Oh come on Cinder!" Someone else shouted a large guy with a white suit and a cane came over grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her back " you really need to get a grip of this fear of yours" 

"Get off me" the snake hissed shoving the man away, his large bushy tail swishing behind him. 

"No I'm not letting you bite someone, definitely not another faunus" the fox growled as the snake hissed at him " I'll take them away from you, and you go get your food" 

"I wont take orders from you" the woman spat pushing the fox away before she stormed out, hissing angrily at everyone who crossed her path while she walked through the crowd of the ground floor. 

"Sorry about that, Cinder is always a stick in the mud" the fox commented flicking his tail " come on, you two look soaked, you look like you've been basking like David" 

"David?" Weiss asked 

"Crocodile faunus, big, muscular, refuses to put a shirt on" the fox said, "he doing guard duty out there because he likes the rain... he didn't tell you his name?" 

"No, he just shoved us through a door" Raven said following the fox as he lead them deeper into the building, the sound of music getting quiter until it disappeared even to Ruby's ears.  

"Right right" the fox said his tail swishing back and forth as he stopped in front of one of the many doors opening it with a tap of his cain "hang your coats up, I'll get you some towels" he said pointing to a coat rack while Ruby bounced into the room her tail wagging quickly as she followed behind the fox, dipping behind a corner.

"He seems nice" Weiss spoke up, turning to the bird faunus who hummed, shedding her thick coat revealing her relatively dry body. 

"I think he's the guy we're looking for, at least Ruby thinks so" Raven added, looking out the small apartment, it was perhaps quite cluttered, a small kitchen a table for eating with some chairs, a TV, sofa, and then there was just this ladder in the corner. All covered in a thin layer of orange fur. 

"Use these" the fox instructed coming back over with a small stack of towels, Ruby following behind him like a lost puppy, a towel draped over her head. 

"Now, I have a question for you, what's your name?" Raven asked,looking the fox in the eyes, him smirking slightly and taking his hat off. 

"Roman Tortwick" he introduced "but if you've been talking to little Rose, you'll probably call me..." 

"Mr foxy!" Ruby chirped, grabbing into his arm her tail wiggling. 

"Yes, that" the fox sighed sitting down at his table, inviting the troop to sit down with them. "It's good to see your doing well and that your alive... that's always a bonus" he said smirking at the wolf who was hugging his arm, her tail wagging even more when the fox rubbed her ears with his spare hand. "Now, I've got a question for you" the fox returned, pointing a finger at Raven "what's your name?" He asked 

"Raven Rose, I'm her mother" Raven introduced, stretching out her wings while the fox looked at her. 

"That explains a few things" Roman grumbled, unfortunately causing Raven to smash her fist down on the table. 

"What is that supposed to mean!" Raven shouted, her aura crackling, but the fox didn't even flinch. 

"What I am saying is that you are atleast half responsible for this wolf faunus and her frailty. Wolf faunus are one of the strongest faunus you can encounter, yet hear we are with a skinny girl who can't lift more then her clothes weigh!" 

"I'm her stepmother! I didn't birth her, her mother did!" 

"Well whatever faunus her mother is it sure isn't pure bread!" 

That last comment seemed to quite Raven down rather quickly, she was fully aware of that her wife was not the purest of faunus, but it really did show in her daughter. 

Roman looked furious, Ruby was just confused and Weiss was slowly shrinking away out of the conversation while patting her hair dry. 

"Do you even know what faunus your own daughter is?" The fox asked, flicking his tail. 

"Wolf... crow, possibly cat... rabbit, I dont know" Raven muttered 

"She's frail, shes weak, the only good thing about this girl is the fact she had a large amount of aura. Even so she's a trembling mess, she's a hunting dog for starters yet she can't even fight" 

"Faunus aren't allowed to fight anymore" Weiss then spoke up, holding her hair in the dark gray towel "too many of them got killed after the collapse of the fourth quarter" 

"Right, so your a huntress in training, What does she do?" Roman asked 

"Just sits while I cast spells, I'm a mage i don't need to move in battle, she more or less doesn't need to move aswell." Weiss shrugged, it was true, she just needed aura nothing else from her faunus. Ruby didn't mind doing nothing and just sitting there, it's been times in the  middle of training matches where the little wolf curled around the heiress' legs and gone to sleep. 

"There we have it, she does nothing. Fucking waste of a life, beautiful fur, beautiful personality, yet because she's such a muck up of the faunus species she can't do anything" the fox growled stroking Ruby's cheek with the back of his hand, the small faunus leaning into his touch. "She could have been a great little wolf, yet here we are" 

"Her mother didn't even want children, she was just forced into it" Raven grunted out, drawing her wings closer curling into herself slightly. 

"Now that makes some sense, but here's another thing that's getting my annoyed, what in the hell was she doing on bloody Vacuo!" 

"We don't know, we're trying to find out, she disappeared four years ago" 

"Come on, really? She's you daughter, if you cared enough you wouldn't let a eight year old disappear!" 

"She was kidnapped! We put her to bed and we woke up and she was gone, no tracks no nothing, she just up and disappeared! We've been looking for her for four years!" 

"And Where's her actual mother now?" The fox asked. 

"Back at Beacon with my old owner calming down from the journey to Vale, her mother can't handle being in crowds, and besides she's not much help when it comes to looking for someone" 

"Ah" the fox grumbled, his tail swishing about while he thought "so let me get this straight, she's been missing for four years, you dont know how, and you've been doing everything in your power to find her?" 

"Yes I have been" 

"Alright" the fox sighed, pulling his hat off and rubbing his own black and white pointy ears. "This is confusing" Roman sighed "Where's she from?" 

"Patch" Raven easily said, pulling Ruby onto her lap, rubbing the little girl's ears. 

"Then why was she in Vacuo" the fox mumbled, rubbing his face for a second "alright, three years ago I found her on a trip to Vacuo to help the owner of this place with a shipment for her business in mistrial. I found this scrawny beat up little faunus just left on the side of the road, couldn't remember a single thing and was absolutely terrified. I took her back to Vale to get her head wound treated by our doctor, but she grew on everyone so she stayed. And the fact she was like nine, nobody would have let that young of a faunus walk around in a city like Vale alone" 

"And I thank you for that, but all that does is clear up what happened to her for the last three years" Raven sighed, wrapping her arms around her small daughter, making the wolf's tail wiggle, scratching across Raven's thick shirt with her claws. "And you don't remember dont you?" The bird asked. 

"Nope" Ruby just chirped giggling slightly as she nuzzled into her stepmother. 

"And by the sounds of it I think that's a good thing" Raven smiled, rubbing her cheek against Ruby's, her smalls daughter joyfully hugging her stepmother's furry arm. "If Ruby is anything like her mother that is" 

"Sometimes not knowing what happened is a good thing, perhaps your right, she was in a pretty bad shape" the fox sighed, observing the bony little girl ,who looked tiny in her stepmother's arms. "It looks like not much has changed, aswell, how long have you had her?" Roamn asked Weiss, particularly pointing at the heiress. 

"Almost two weeks now, she's on a diet with the vet to get her weight up" Weiss informed smiling slightly at her faunus' giggling . "She's lame aswell" 

"I could have told you that the second she walked in, but what's wrong?" 

"Beowolf bite to the foot, dislodged a lot of bone" 

"Show me" the fox almost ordered, spurring Ruby to start the laborious task of removing her own boot, with some help from her stepmother, reaching around the girl to pick her lases undone with her sharp claws. 

"It's healed mostly" Raven said showing Roman the scars that ripped through the girl's slightly furry human like foot. 

"Oh come on, you just can't help getting yourself hurt can't you?" The fox asked Ruby who squeaked out her reply. "Come here, you poor little thing" he beckoned, the small faunus wiggling out of Raven's grip and over to the fox. The lean man rubbing ears, the furry large appendages struggled to stay up straight, they where particularly weak, flopping about with the fox's hand. 

Roman looked honestly upset, he's obviously known Ruby for a while, the little faunus enjoying the ear pets that he gave out. Before he noticed something "someone's been pulling on her ears" he announced looking directly at Weiss "have you pulled on her ears?" 

"No she doesn't like it when I hold them for too long to brush her hair. I think my roommate does though, I try not to leave them both alone, my roommate simply doesn't care about her" Weiss informed, watching this white suited fox, gently grab onto the sides of Ruby's head and looked her over. 

"These scratches where here before" he said pointing to some very fine marks that marred the girl's skin "her ears are soar." He sighed rubbing the wolf's cheeks with his thumbs, sticking his tongue out at her and making her giggle.

"I thought you've known her for a while?" Raven asked.

"I knew it was bad before but I didn't know just how bad it was. Humans can be horrible creatures" the fox sighed, rubbing Ruby's back the small girl, nuzzling into his arms, he cupped her cheek watching her close her eyes slightly. "Sleepy?" 

"Yeah" Ruby mumbled, her tail no longer wagging, but she smiled a little at the fox. The wolf yawned soon after, shivering slightly as she then went to get her boot.

"Oh your fine, go get a chair" Roman sighed, watching her sit down on the other side of the table "there we go, now everyone can see how short you are" he smirked, making Raven smile slightly when Ruby easily managed to just lean forwards and rest her chin on the slightly cluttered table.. 

"I'm not that short" Ruby pouted her ears twitching about, before standing up and growling at the door an action that Roman reciprocated. Except for the fact the fox renched the door open and chased after the laughing faunus, his high pitched barking loud in everyone's ears. 

"He seems fun" Weiss commented looking to her faunus who just sat there licking her arm while her stepmother preened her feathers. "Faunus" Weiss sighed tapping her hands against her legs in some kind of tune. 

"He wasn't that bad of a person" Raven then spoke up shaking some of the rain off her. "He's a kind of faunus i can respect" 

"You like fox faunus?" Weiss asked a bit surprised. 

"They are unusually fluffy" Raven said smiling slightly at the image of Roman's very poofy tail. "Though I have a feeling Ruby wouldn't be interested in a fox" 

"She's good friends with a rabbit if that helps" Weiss added making Raven grimace. 

"Na, pray faunus almost never have a good kick to them, besides I haven't met this rabbit girl" 

"I don't know, you've never met Velvet" Weiss almost smirked oh this was going to be fun few days, especially considering that Ruby's evaluation is tomorrow. "But I think we should return to Beacon" 

"Yes, we should, I don't like having to leave Summer alone for too long" the shadowy faunus sighed, beckoning her daughter over "come on, I think you need some sleep "

"Can I say goodbye to foxy first?" She asked looking between the two. 

"Yes you can, but we need to go straight after" Weiss sighed pulling on the side of her faunus' collar so the girl got the idea, while the two adults pulled on their now dry coats. 

Ruby dashed out the room as quick as her lame leg could carry her, dropping down to all fours as she caught up to the barking fox who was just pacing in the middle of the corridor at this point with the person he was chasing gone. Both of them shared a brief hug, the fox looked rather irritated, but he otherwise bidded Ruby goodbye, at the promise that she will return sometime soon. 

Ruby dragged herself over to her owner and mother, sulking slightly about having to leave, but that sulky behaviour was dropped when Weiss gave her a biscuit and her mother offered her a piggyback ride. 

* * *

"Your back!" Summer shouted clapping her hands together happily, Glynda Goodwitch sitting at a desk marking papers while the wolf faunus stood and ran to greet the large bird faunus. "You've been gone for so long!" 

"I've only been gone for four hours" Raven huffed, leaning into her wife's embrace in order not to drop their sleeping daughter. 

"Well it felt like a long time, Glynda isn't exactly the picture of fun" Summer huffed. 

"I have a job to do you know, I'm not a student anymore that can just discard all paperwork at a drop of a hat." The professor sighed, looking up from her work " what did you find?" 

"Not much, this Foxy guy was actually a fox faunus called Roman Tortwick, lived at this shady dog mess. Apparently he's known Ruby for about three years, found her in Vacuo of all places" Raven informed, growling underneath her breath "I need to get her to bed, whatever her bed is" 

"It's not that bad!" Weiss shouted, Raven had practically insulted her all the way back to beacon after Ruby fell asleep, leaving the schnee feeling rather defensive with how she treats her faunus. Even her sister! A faunus specialist! Agreed that her treatment of Ruby was perfect, especially considering that Ruby had literally been picked off the street, never even had an owner before.

"I'll judge that when I see it" Raven grumbled, being lead through the corridors towards team RWBY's dorm 

As soon as they entered they where greeted by Blake purring on her owner's bed, Yang none existence. " hello Blake" Weiss greeted waking the faunus, the cat stretched out before sitting up. 

"If you want Yang she's gone drinking" Blake slered, rubbing her face, her tail swishing as there was a scratching sound from the bathroom. 

"I don't want her, especially for this" Weiss sighed pointing to the loaded pallet on the floor, mainly full of Ruby's stuffed toys. "What's in the bathroom?" 

"Yang's deamon" Blake grumbled spurring the heiress to dash over to the door and release a pudgy corgi that wagged it's little nub of a tail at Weiss. 

"Oh come on Blake" the human sighed lifting the little dog up, getting a few yaps from the dog. "Really? This is Zwei" Weiss huffed putting the corgi on Blake's lap making the cat sneer down at the dog but otherwise didn't do anything else. Zwei was the only dog that the faunus didn't freak out over. "Ruby's bed is down there" the heiress said pointing down the side of her bed.

"Oh fun" Raven sighed, folding her wings up tight as she squeezed her large body down to her daughter's bed, laying her down on the pallet watching as the little girl smiled, wiggling about hugging the first thing that touched her hands. Weiss leaning over her bed to drap a blanket over the little wolf, her nuzzling deeper into her bed, to be honest Raven did like it, it was much better then she got when she was in the academy. 

"I swear you spoil that wolf" Blake grumbled, her cat eyes darting up and down Raven. 

"She deserves it, she's had a hard few weeks" Weiss retorted, watching her faunus sleep for a second. "Besides even you complain when your bed isn't how you like it" 

"True" Blake agreed "isn't she that annoying woman who ran me up the flag pole?"

"Yes, but in my defence I'm old" Raven said standing up being very mindful of her large wings as she crept away from her daughter, her claws bearly grazing the floor as she tried to keep ground vibrations to a minimum. 

"My Gods you are old" Blake gasped looking at Raven's furry arms "look at that, I thought I would die before I saw a faunus older then forty" 

"And here I am nocking on death's door" Raven laughed, showing off her fur, "apparently I'm in perfect health but I don't feel healthy" 

"Wait... your professor Goodwitch's faunus, I've seen you in pictures on her desk, just... less furry." Blake said as Raven nodded "she's been out of combat for eleven years, where was you? Apparently she was like the best huntress of her generation" 

"Patch, stuff happened, my best friend had a kid couldn't handle it, I couldn't fly so I was.... stuck" Raven said rubbing her head. 

"Kid?" 

"That kid, that one right, there asleep in your room. " Raven pointed straight at Ruby, not that she knew. 

"Oh... are you staying?" 

"Probably, Glynda wants me back with her, and she's a decent human to be with so I might as well, atleast for Summer who really needs medical help" 

"She gave you the choice?" Blake asked surprised. 

" of course, because she knows if she doesn't give me a choice I'll smash her head like she's a snake for the eating" Raven growled, her intimidating self working on Weiss, making her gulp stepping away. "She may be my owner but I don't let her treat me like dirt, it's about respect I refuse to respect her if she doesn't give me the same" 

"I can now see why you've lived so long" Blake spoke up, watching the bird faunus cross her arms. 

"Just because your a faunus it doesn't mean you should let people kick you in the teeth." Raven growled, turning to Weiss "you stay here, I don't want you to leave that girl alone" 

"Fine" Weiss quickly said, feeling slightly afraid of the agitated faunus who nodded, patting the heiress' shoulder almost breaking her collar bone in the process. 

"I need to talk to Summer" the bird faunus huffed walking away after forcing herself though the door way. 

"She was nice" Blake smiled, petting Zwei slightly until she remembered what she was petting. The cat faunus sneered and prowled away leaving the dog to have her owner's bed to himself. "Ruby's asleep?" 

"Yes why?" Weiss asked watching the cat faunus pounce over the heiress' bed and onto the little wolf's bed, wiggling under the covers next to her friend. "Faunus" Weiss sighed. 

"She's fluffy, and Yang doesn't cuddle" Blake defended with a hiss, her tail twitching as the little girl nuzzled into her chest. 

"I can give you fluffy" Weiss smirked sitting on her bed and taking out a book, listening to the two faunus wiggle about to get comfortable. "Just make sure you don't wake her, she has her evaluation tomorrow" and by gods was Weiss afraid of what could happen. Her training is not perfect, and the most of it was to get rid of Ruby's incredibly strong fear of Grimm. 

Weiss was particularly worried about the fact that not only will the whole year be watching her, but her own sister will be watching and judging at the same time as professor Goodwitch. She hopes Ruby will impress. 

For both of their own good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A dog mess is a place where someone feeds and keeps stray faunus, they are technically illegal since the feeding of stray faunus is also illegal, but they can be legalized if they own a large amount of faunus, even then stray faunus are likely to be confiscated and maybe killed.


	17. Snip

1 hour till evaluation. 

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted, leaping at her faunus as the small wolf tried to dash away. "Stop! I need to get this on you!" She fumed grabbing onto her faunus' tail pulling her back while she scratched her claws across the carpet. "Hold still you silly girl" she growled. 

"No! I hate it!" Ruby shouted crossing her arm and refusing to let her owner pull off her shirt. 

"You haven't even worn it yet! How do you know you hate it!?" The heiress shouted trying to get her faunus' clothes off, but she was not making it easy. 

"It's itchy ! And blue!" Ruby snapped back, growling at her owner before being hit on the nose, making her Yelp. 

"Do not growl at me" Weiss snarled pointing a finger at the wolf "you are going to wear it, it doesn't matter if it's blue, you need to put it on" 

"It's itchy! I don't like it" Ruby said, growling yet again and yet again being hit on the nose. 

"It doesn't matter if you don't like it, you are wearing it" Weiss said again, rubbing her head as she held onto the piece of leather "fine, you can wear one of your shirt underneath if it's that itchy" 

"Ok" Ruby pouted finally letting her owner pull off some of her clothes, leaving her with just a skirt, her shorts and her socks on. 

"Good" Weiss sighed in relief, helping her faunus get dressed into her two shirts and some light armour. The girl a bit upset with the light baby blue of her outer shirt but her owner was pleased that she won this battle. "That wasn't that hard" Weiss sighed strapping gloves onto Ruby's hands, mainly to protect her hands, and also to stop her from scratching people. 

"good girl" Weiss smiled scratching behind Ruby's ears her tail wagging. "Shoes, and... hair pins" the heiress then reminded herself, giving her faunus a biscuit before getting up and rummaging around, leaving Ruby to crunch on her treat. "Stay there" 

"Weiss more" Ruby requested once she was finished with her treat. 

"Stay" Weiss just ordered, Ruby pouting as she sat there, following orders but she wasn't happy about it. The heiress finally finding what she wanted, coming back over to Ruby , strapping and lasing her boots on. "Turn" the heiress ordered, watching her faunus turn around for her, getting another biscuit as a reward. "Good girl Ruby" the schnee smiled, combing the small wolf's hair, rubbing her ears every once in a while making her tail wag. 

Weiss eventually pulled her hair back into a small ponytail, clipping her long ish fringe back. "There we go, such a good puppy" the heiress praised once the wolf was ready, pulling her to her feet. 

Ruby looked up at her with a wagging tail, her whole body moving with her tail at the praise. "Right, Ruby bed, I need to get ready myself" the heiress ordered, watching her faunus flawlessly jump onto her bed, curling up and watching her owner change. 

"Are you going to do your best for your evaluation?" Weiss asked, her faunus nodding. "You are aware of what will happen if you don't pass?" Another nod "are you aware of all the treats you'll get when you pass?" Another quick nod. "Good" 

"It'll be ok Weiss!" Ruby chirped 

2 hours later 

* * *

"No! No!" Ruby shouted trying to scrabble away as one of the teachers grabbed onto her tail and stuffed her into a medium sized pet carrier, crying out for her owner who was watching solemnly. 

 the small wolf's struggling increased when the crate was picked up, being carried away from the arena and followed by the headmistress, Weiss and Raven surprisingly. 

 Ruby's muffled shouts from inside the box where drowned out by her banging against the sides of her small confines, trying desperately to claw herself out of the small animal crate, though Weiss was slightly glad she put gloves on the girl.

 That being said her faunus was freaking out, if the sounds of her frantic rattling was any indication as two teachers carried her in the small crate. "Miss Schnee, I can conclude that both of you have passed" professor Goodwitch said with a smile, one that looked a little out of place on the strict teacher's face, that being said Raven was standing right behind her, her faunus that she thought was dead. 

"Umm, would I be allowed to ask what you are doing with my faunus?" Weiss asked quickening her pace slightly to stay with her distressed faunus.

"Oh of course, She's being sterilized" 

"What!?" 

"She's a hybrid of six different species of faunus, the chain cannot be allowed to continue" the professor said, Raven nodding in agreement "it might even temper out that attitude of hers" 

"She doesn't have an attitude" Weiss huffed listening to the loud rattling of her faunus in the opaque crate, until it stopped, being replaced with loud pitiful whimpers. "Why does she have to be in a crate?" 

"Because it's easier to nock them out like that, plus she bit the last vet that saw her" The witch said, watching as her own faunus placed a hand on the crate, rubbing it slightly in some attempt to calm the distressed girl inside. "Do you still agree with this?" Goodwitch asked her faunus. 

"Yes I do, despite all my instincts telling me that it's a bad idea, I agree that it would be absolutely devastating for this chain to continue. "

"Don't I get a say in this!?" Weiss shouted, slightly upset that they where going to do something to her faunus, her property, her pet, without her permission... though to be fair after what she heard yesterday about her faunus from that fox she was thinking about having Ruby sterilized. Especially considering Ruby is the perfect age for it at the moment. 

"Would you have objected?" The headmistress asked watching her student stutter, before admitting that she wouldn't have, but explaining that she would have gone about it in a different way instead of just picking the girl up by her tail and shoving her into a transport crate after a match. "I do agree the method could have been different but she would have ended up there whatever way we did it" 

"She's scared professor! She thinks she failed!" Weiss argued in full knowledge that her faunus had no idea what they where talking about, or probably couldn't hear them.

"She will be fine, it's a short procedure, only two hours and she'll wake up feeling a lot better, unlike grumpy over here" 

"I am not grumpy!" Raven shouted unfortunately making the girl inside the plastic box stumble about, before the bird faunus whent back to stroking the top of the box. 

"Sure your not" the headmistress smiled that out of place smirk appearing back on her face, the bird faunus huffing still trying to calm down her daughter without letting her out of the crate. "But the fact of the matter still stands, she will be fine" 

"I'll have to get her some treats" Weiss muttered under her breath making Raven smirk. 

"I think she deserved some treats after all this" the bird faunus smiled, just as they turned into the infirmary, the two teachers pushing the crate onto a table, it slid on easily, as the "round man" revealed himself.

"Ah, the itchy wolf that gave me a scar" he sighed, looking towards the three "how are your legs? That cream I gave you working?" He asked Raven who nodded. "You know it's a sign that you don't follow instincts, raven faunus tend to urinate down their legs" 

"Yeah my father did, I thought it was disgusting" the bird faunus sighed, her wings being drawn close "but it kept his talons good" 

"Alright, I want you all to leave, I'll get this girl spayed, somehow without getting myself hurt." Dr Polendina sighed motioning for all people to leave, they did and when they did they listened for a split second as a sound of a wild animal being wrestled filled the room, untill it stopped. 

"That man is going to get himself killed one day" the headmistress gasped, Weiss becoming concerned about her faunus, but Raven grabbed her shirt and pulled her away.

"Come on, she'll be fine" the bird faunus said leading the heiress away, pulling her towards where Blake was lounging by a window, the head nurse long ago left her to nap after the last time she shouted at the cat and her owner got rather annoyed. "See? Theres your cat friend" 

"Blake, her name is Blake" Weiss sighed, her team mate's faunus purring when the heiress scratched the girl's back. Raven shrugged before walking off, following her actual owner although she did not have any kind of identification that she wasn't a stray... yet. 

This was going to be a fun two hours for the schnee

* * *

"Ruby's out of surgery" Blake announced just as Dr Polendina came down the hall carrying a limp Ruby in his arms, her long dog like tongue lolling out of her mouth. She was awake, her eyes barely slits, but she was awake, being layed down on a bed, the vet nudging her tongue but the small wolf bearly reacted.

"She's going to feel like she's been kicked in the stomach for a few days and your going to have to watch her and those stitches" he instructed, flattening out her ears so they where no longer crumpled up, doing the same to her tail which twitched at the contact. "She'll be fine" he declared before walking away.

"Oh puppy" Weiss sighed, crouching down next to her faunus, rubbing the girl's ear, listening to the girl whimpering quietly.

Blake sighed before pouncing on to the bed, prowling over the small wolf until Weiss pushed her off the bed. "Leave her alone for a bit, she needs to rest" the heiress sighed looking at the cat faunus who hissed prowling back over to the schnee, nuzzling into the woman's arm. Weiss watching her faunus bearly look at her, though when she did the end of her tail wiggled a little bit. "Good girl Ruby" Weiss sighed pulling the white covers over her faunus, covering her up to her shoulders.

"She'll be fine" Blake huffed, hopping onto the end of the bed, curling up at the foot of her friend who was still teetering on the edge of going back to sleep, but was slowly coming back to her senses. 

"Does she groom herself?" Dr Polendina asked coming back over. 

"Sometimes, but only her arms and shoulders" Weiss sighed rubbing her faunus' ears before pulling her collar off setting it besides the girl. 

"Alright, so she doesn't groom anywhere else?" He asked as Weiss nodded, he sighed "good, so she's not like Blake here?" 

"Absolutely not" Weiss said with a disgusted face, for the year and a half that she had lived with the cat faunus, she was fully aware of her teammate's faunus' habits. 

"Alright, I'll just cover it then, keep her calm, no extreme movements, which means no running, no jumping, no laying on her stomach and no bending down." The vet instructed, crouching down next to the girl and lifting the limp girl up so he could rap up the wolf's abdomen "though I doubt she would like to do any of that, when the drugs wear off she's going to feel terrible" 

"Should I give her anything for the pain?" Weiss asked, slightly concerned over the small faunus who was currently being layed back down. 

"You can if you want, but she should be fine if you let her sleep most of it off" the veterinarian instructed. "But the drugs will wear off in about half an hour" 

"It will be an interesting hour then" the heiress sighed rubbing her faunus' cheek with the back of her hand, somehow Weiss had to get this girl back to her dormitory and as much as the schnee didn't want to admit, she wasn't strong enough to carry this twelve year old puppy that far, and definitely not when she's this limp. "Blake, go get your brute of an owner" Weiss then instructed to the cat faunus, who stretched out before prowling away. 

"I would give her another ten minutes to wake up properly until you try and move her, but move her before she gets all feeling back, otherwise it's not going to be fun for her" 

The heiress sighed, just sitting next to her faunus watching her intently for ten minutes, and eventually Ruby retracted her tongue, her gloved hand lightly holding onto her owner's arm, and she just mumbled something strange. "Alright hows your terror" Yang sighed dragging herself over, with Blake nuzzling against her leg, purring the whole time. 

"She's fine but..."

"You need her back in the dorm" the blonde sighed, stretching out "fine, I'll carry her, but it's on you if she bites me" 

"She won't bite you, she can't lift her head" Weiss sighed watching her teammate shuffle her arms underneath the girl and rather carefully lift her up. 

"Oh floppy girl" the blonde chuckled tucking the little wolf's head against her shoulder "I see what you ment about her not biting" 

"She doesn't bite anyway, the worst she did was a bruise" 

"To you! She almost broke my arm!" 

"You where fine, stop being dramatic" 

"I am not being dramatic! It hurt! Her teeth are like needles!"

"She's young, of course her teeth are sharp, you could say the same about Blake, she's a cat her teeth are sharp" 

"Atleast she's not growling at me" Yang grumbled carrying the girl towards the dorm, listening to the little wolf's small whimpers. "But that's pitiful, I would prefer her growling over that" 

"Well she might growl if you keep doing that" Weiss snapped taking note of the way the blonde kept on pushing the girl's head up. 

"Right, right" the blonde sighed Weiss opening the door for the young dragon as Zwei came yapping at his owner when they walked in. "Her bed or your bed?" 

"Her bed, but keep her layed out" the heiress instructed watching Yang lay the small wolf down, Ruby grabbing onto a toy panda, holding it in her hands, nibbling on the toy's ear. "She's been such a good girl, I feel bad to have this done to her" 

"You guys where awesome in the ring, you smashed that death stalker to pieces" Yang smirked before going over to her desk "I know I haven't been all that pleasant to Ruby, but she deserves these" the blonde smiles passing Weiss a large box of cookie snaps

"It'll be good treat for her, she deserves them" the heiress smiled accepting the box, looking down at her faunus who looked... almost in a different world, she looked awake, but she looked like she was learning how to use her hands for the first Time. "Ruby" Weiss said, to no response, "Ruby up here" she smirked rubbing her faunus' cheek with her finger, finally getting the girl's attention, her tail wiggling a little. 

"She still in there?" Yang asked flopping over the bed to look at the small girl as well. 

"Yes, I just don't think she's all there yet" Weiss smiled, stroking Ruby's ears back, smiling when she rubbed her head against her owner's hand. "Oh your such a good girl" 

"She's going to feel like crap in a few minutes isn't she?" Yang asked rolling onto her back. 

"Absolutely, though I'm going into Vale tomorrow to get her some painkillers" the schnee announced, giving her faunus the whole box. 

"Cool cool, you want me to watch her?" 

"Since when do you want to watch Ruby?" 

"I'm happy to watch her be all floppy and sleepy, I just don't want to deal with her fully awake" 

"I think it'll be ok" Weiss then responded, patting her teammate's shoulder "Coco said that Velvet has been missing her friend, so I'll ask if she wanted to watch her so the two can... bond" 

"Amazing idea, have two faunus bond while one of them is recovering from having her tubes tied" 

"Oh it'll be fine" Weiss sighed, letting her faunus grip onto her hand. "Ruby's mother wants to meet Velvet anyway" 

"Her mother? Don't all faunus split up from their parents when they are little? Like really little?"

"Yes, but Ruby was a stray, so she wasn't separated from her parents, and they really don't want to let go of their only child" 

"Huh" Yang just said, looking at Ruby intensely "lucky her then, when I got Blake she was separated rather late and she was a mess" 

"Where is Blake even from?" 

"Somewhere in mistrial, like one of the little islands around the edge. My dad picked her up after a storm displaced a load of people and she was just left as a stray, I needed a faunus, so he got me Blake" 

"So essentially you have no idea?" Weiss asked 

"Yup" the young dragon nodded, looking at her friend "where's Ruby from? Or do you not know?" 

"Patch, definitely" the heiress declared, watching her teammate give her a slightly shocked look. 

"Ah, alright" the blonde sighed just as Ruby's whimpers reached a whole new level. "This is going to be a fun week isn't it?" 

"Absolutely" 

* * *

 

"How's the trooper?" Fashionista Coco Adel asked being let into the second year dorm room, revealing the little wolf crumpled up on her bed that had been pulled to the other side of Weiss' bed.

"Feeling horrible, she'll be fine though" Weiss sighed, nudging her faunus slightly, getting a slight whimper out of her. Before feeding her a handful of treats, which was  appreciated by the puppy. 

"Well, I'll do my duty to watch her, while you get her some painkillers for her stomach" the minigun user said, taking a seat down next to the little girl, brushing her hair slightly, just as Velvet bounded over to her friend. 

"Alright, don't let her get up or move too much, she might be a little hungry though" Weiss said crouching down next to the whimpering girl, rubbing her shoulder, tucking her tail under the blanket that covered a majority of her "just make sure she sits up if you wants to drink anything" 

"Will do" the third year smirked rubbing Ruby's ear while Velvet hopped over to her friend making the wolf's tail wag, loudly thumping against her bed. "Aren't you just a soft cutie?" The brown haired huntress in training smiled surprised when Ruby licked her hand. 

"One last thing, she likes to lick" Weiss said before leaving the three alone, Ruby huffing slightly as she curled up more obviously not very happy as she pulled some of her toys closer. 

"Is she ok?" Velvet asked nudging her friend who bearly moved, the rabbit wiggled her little cotton ball of a tail playing with her friend's tail which twitched every once and a while. 

"Yeah she'll be fine, just doesn't feel good" the third year sighed, pretty frustrated that she ended up in this situation by being guilt tripped by a heiress. To be fair it wasn't that hard to just sit next to the small wolf, petting her fluffy hair and  rubbing her silky ears. Velvet, her own faunus was concerned over her best friend, but settled for just laying down next to her, sharing some pets from her owner with the Wolf.

Though what did surprise Coco was the fact that despite how young Ruby was, she had to be the only faunus she knew, that could read, considering she was stuck into a book. 

 That being said, someone did tell her that the headmistress' new faunus could read... and also had excellent handwriting. 

It was Weiss' choice if she wanted to teach her faunus how to read or not, but the heiress had only had this girl for like... two weeks, to be honest though the little wolf  was a lot nicer, not to mention a lot calmer then Weiss' last faunus.

 Her last faunus bit Velvet pretty badly, Ruby seems to be a lot more playful... when she isn't feeling terrible. 

"Such a good girl" the third year smiled, stroking the small wolf's cheek "you don't bite don't you?" At that comment the little girl just gave her a almost cheeky little grin, nipping slightly at her fingers. "Maybe a little" 

"Ruby Doesn't bite!" Velvet shouted, pouting slightly as her owner ruffled her head, her long ears twitching slightly when Ruby grabbed onto some of her hair and pulled her back down. "Ow! Don't pull!" The rabbit faunus yelped being pulled over to the bedridden wolf. 

"Gently Velvet, little puppy isn't feeling good" Coco laughed lightly, watching her faunus and her friend's faunus wriggle about under a blanket, Ruby just grabbing onto Velvet holding her down while the rabbit tried to escape, while not hurting her friend. 

"Stay don't go!" Ruby shouted clawing at Velvet's shirt, before finally convincing the rabbit not to leave, allowing Ruby to wiggle a bit closer to her. 

the third year smirked sitting back and just enjoying the show the two faunus where putting on, Ruby "grooming" Velvet the best she can as a sign of friendship. although she was in a lot of pain, she was still moving about, although she kept herself rather low. 

Coco just made a mental note to scrub Velvet clean after. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reptilian faunus have a tendency to be hostile, they can be venomous, aswell as poisonous, they struggle to regulate temperatures and they can also stop eating for weeks or months at a time with changing seasons. Asides from rare mole faunus they are the hardest faunus to keep.


	18. Phoenix

"Hello puppy" Raven said quietly, stroking across Ruby's head, the small wolf bearly moving but she grabbed onto her stepmother's arm slightly, her claws digging into the woman's furry wrist. "Are you feeling better?" She asked rather softly, laying down on her stomach to minimalise the amount of head movement Ruby would have to do. 

Raven didn't really expect much of an answer, Ruby wasn't particularly known for her stellar talking abilities, since she didn't like to talk that much even for faunus standards. But she did receive a small grunt from her daughter, enough for the bird faunus to sigh and just stroke her cheek, an action the small wolf enjoyed. 

" are you going to lay there all day?" Glynda asked with slight annoyance, looking at her faunus who was captivated by her bedridden daughter. 

"Yeah" Raven muttered, holding onto the half asleep girl's hand, trying to be sympathetic while she has had no direct exposure with this exact situation before, yet still wants to reassure her daughter. 

"Would a bag of nuts solve this problem?" Glynda asked, watching her faunus shake her head. "Fine, I'll just get on with my day without you, it's not like I have to do that demonstration later, I guess I'll just get peater and his poor excuse of a semblance to do it" 

"Why don't you ask Summer?" Raven muttered, still lazily petting and rubbing her daughter's face, smiling when the small faunus tightened her grip on her arm. 

"Maybe I will" Glynda huffed "have fun with your boring... loafing around with a vegetable" 

"She's not a vegetable! She's just in pain!" Raven shouted watching her owner almost storm out of the room, almost because she didn't turn into a huge cloud and rain away though the doorway, as fun as that would be not only to imagine, but also to write. 

"Fine" the headmistress sighed, dragging herself towards the room where the pair of faunus she technically owns are kept. Once she entered the room she was immediately greeted by Summer... sowing of all things, granted her impaired vision ment that she kept pricking herself with the needle, it was a good thing she was using red fabric. 

"Glynda?" She then spoke up looking at the general direction of the headmistress, setting down... whatever she was making "what are you doing here? Where's Raven?" 

"Raven is currently being everything I wouldn't associate with Raven" Goodwitch commented. 

"Oh, is she doing that mushy thing she does around Ruby?" 

"Precisely"

"Good luck trying to drag her away from that, I've never been able to" 

"That's not why I'm here actually, could I borrow you? For a few hours so I can do a demonstration" 

"Sure? As long as you don't use too much of my aura" Summer shrugged, standing up and brushing herself off. 

"I assure you I will only use as much as I need" the headmistress smiled, holding out her arm for the visually impaired faunus, it took a minute for the hesitant girl to grab on, but once she did away they went. 

This was going to be an interesting day. 

* * *

"Attention class! Will you all gather around the front for a demonstration on semblance" the headmistress shouted to the rowdy group of first years, who... didn't listen to her, and Summer was hiding behind Glynda, since Goodwitch has just realised that Summer was absolutely terrified of most humans. 

The headmistress sighed before repeating the same thing she just said but louder with a more authoritative tone getting the class' attention. Though as soon as the headmistress moved into the arena Summer froze up "no! No! I cant do this I need to go" she whimpered, refusing to enter the arena as Glynda tried to push her. 

"Come on it's not that bad" Goodwitch said, trying to push the dog faunus while the whole class watched, but Glynda had enough of it and tried a different approach, leading Summer out with a biscuit, effectively bringing her into the arena. "It's been a while for you hasn't it?" Glynda asked, as Summer nodded, trembling with fear. 

"Ok, just don't move and hold onto me" the headmistress instructed readying herself as a borebatusk was released into the arena. 

At that point the headmistress realised she made a grave mistake of taking Raven's advice to use Summer for this. The wolf faunus left Glynda's side in a second, scrambling away from the Grimm, now this got the class's attention, watching Summer be chased around the arena while the headmistress was utterly useless. 

"Stop!" Goodwitch shouted, trying to stop Summer from running around, and the Grimm from charging after the faunus. After finding it was useless Glynda ran to a weapon rack, throwing the wolf faunus the first sharp pointy thing she could grab. 

Summer knew what to do with this sharp pointy thing, since she was a faunus from a completely different time. A time when faunus where given advanced weapon training. 

The wolf faunus took the blade in hand, focusing herself slightly as the boartusk ran straight for her, with skill she slipped down, kicking the Grimm over and slicing it from it's chin right down to it's tail, killing it instantly. Leaving a class shocked by what they have just seen,  And for Summer to faint from the stress, the dagger she was holding clattered to the floor. 

Glynda then declared that Raven was going to kill her. 

* * *

 " good morning, children" said professor Umbridg as everyone turned around. 

"Ordinary wizarding level examinations. O-W-Ls. More commonly known as Owls. Study hard and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be serverd". Said professor Umbridg as she waved our wands and passed out our defence against the dark arts books- 

"Am I interrupting something?" Glynda then asked watching as her faunus looked up from the book she had been reading to her daughter who was now wide awake, but still laying down comfortably. 

"Yes you where, we are just getting to a good part" Raven huffed while Ruby pouted, having obviously been enjoying a reading session with her mother. Raven otherwise slipped in a book mark to the thick book, and closed it turning her attention to the headmistress. 

"The demonstration whent terribly if you want to know, Summer was absolutely terrified and ended up killing the boartusk herself" Glynda informed, sitting in front of the two and giving Ruby a few head strokes, the small wolf faunus bearly moving, but her tail did twitch "it seems you have been having fun" 

"Lots of fun, I read Ruby a lot of books and she's loved every single one of them" Raven smiled motioning to the pile of four finished books and the thick one in her hand still, about half way finished. 

"Well if I was ever to have a daughter I would atleast like her to share some of my interests, it seems you have gotten the long end of the stick in that regard" 

"That I have" Raven smiled, rubbing Ruby's cheek "it helps that Ruby here is such a good listener, since she's not one to use her words" 

"Can she even Read?" 

"That she can, I taught her myself" Raven stated proudly, making her owner chuckle. 

"Well go ahead keep on reading, it seems you had your claws stuck in" 

"Indeed we where, ready Ruby?" 

"Yup!" The puppy chirped her tail wagging as Raven smiled commenting about how cute she is, before she opens her book. And continues to read a popular story franchise that will not be named for predominantly annoying reasons to weed out the none book lovers... ya dicks. 

* * *

"Ruby! I'm back!" Weiss shouted opening the door just as Raven exclaimed. 

"Silence! Stupid girl!" 

"How dare you?! Do you have any idea who I am!" Weiss shouted storming over to witness Ruby and the headmistress huddled around Raven who was animatingly (is that a word?) reading from a book. "Oh" the schnee exclaimed, laughing slight at Ruby being captivated by the story, tucked up in her bed holding some of her toys. Raven really was a good story teller, especially when reading.

"Weiss!" Ruby chirped with a wagging tail, wiggling out of bed and carefully crawling over to her owner with a wagging tail. 

"Hello Ruby, are you feeling better?" Weiss asked, crouching down and rubbing Ruby's ears before Shepparding her back into bed, tucking her in slightly. 

"A little" the wolf smiled, watching her owner shuffle around putting her books away. 

"Dont you have classes now?" Raven asked. 

"Yes I do, but Ruby needs to eat so my teacher let me go early" the heiress said, rubbing between her faunus' ears. "I'm going to get her some food, try and get her to eat one of these" the schnee instructed passing raven a small pack of faunus painkillers. 

"I'll try" Raven sighed, reading the label while Ruby wiggled a bit almost nocking her water bowl, granted it was almost empty but faunus should always have water available to them. "And I'll get her more water" the bird faunus said taking the bowl away while her small daughter lay in bed still resting but it was evident she no longer wanted to be there. 

 And after laying there all day the young girl was jiggling about trying to hold her bladder. Something Raven easily spotted once she had returned with more water for her daughter, proceeding to carefully pick the small wolf up and rushing her to the toilet. 

"Not the worst thing I've done" the bird faunus groaned settling her daughter back into bed, the little wolf much happier. 

"What's the worst thing?" Glynda then asked interested. 

"Putting someone's eyeball back in, it was so squishy" the bird faunus shivered, draping a wing over Ruby the small girl contently wrapping herself in it. "Eyeballs are squishy in general, aren't they Ruby?" 

"Very squishy" Ruby agreed her tail wagging happily as her mother petted her head, the puppy resting her head on her mother's lap. 

"That's right" Raven smiled, patting her daughter's back slightly, being relatively happy with this girl just laying there using her leg as a pillow. "Where's Summer?" The bird faunus then asked her owner, suddenly remembering the lack if the woman. 

"She fainted so I put her to bed" Glynda almost declared proudly but her faunus glared at her slightly, making the headmistress falter "I assure you she's fine, she was just stressed" 

Raven huffed at that before turning her attention back fo Ruby, stroking her tail slightly as she became entranced by the  wolf. "Faunus" Glynda sighed patting Raven on the head which earned the headmistress a rather loud shrieking if not unhappy squwark from the bird faunus. "I'm going! You dont have to scream at me" 

Raven didn't answer with words, instead her scathing red eyes pierced into Goodwitch's skull sending shivers down the usually collected headmistress' spine. Successful speeding the departure up, leaving Raven to pet her daughter like some kind of cat... well Ruby is some kind of cat, part cat actually, but that's a story I don't want to expand into. 

Glynda sighed grumbling about her faunus as she walked through the halls, it was around lunch meaning it would probably be best if you got along with her duties. 

First on the list, feeding the headmaster. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The most common spieces of faunus are Rabbit faunus, despite many people owning this rather docile and easily handled faunus not many hunters use them in battle. This is because Rabbit faunus and all rodent faunus (apart from capybara) have a very low aura capacity. 
> 
> Well apart from Velvet, who holds the world record for aura reserves in rodent faunus.


	19. Crown of thorns

Beacon was by all means not a new school, it's building has stood proud on it's floating island for as long as faunus have been domesticated. It's towering spires rising above all other newer buildings, the tallest of which was the headmaster's building. 

A whole spire shut off to the student body and a large majority of the staff. 

Glynda Goodwitch was the only one allowed to enter the tower, pushing a trolley into a elevator embedded into the wall. Ushally the headmistress wouldn't go up with her delivery but she thinks that the solitary headmaster has spent a bit too long without contact. being that she hasn't seen him in six months. 

Glynda sighed pressing a button as the elevator began to ascend far into the tower, the headmistress steeled her face as she walked into the heavily windowed room... oneway glass of course, clockwork ticked above her head as she looked around the room, voide of life apart from a large black bird nibbling on nuts on the headmaster's oak top desk. 

A gift from the previous headmistress when she retired. 

Glynda smile a bit at the bird, reaching out and stroking it's soft neck feathers. Azrial has always reminded her of Raven, someway or another, but the headmaster reminded herself that she wasn't here to pet the headmaster's bird, no matter how fun it was to do so. 

The headmistress sighed to herself navigating her way down a staircase, Azrial hitching a ride on her shoulder as they walked though the headmaster's personal building. This floor was yet again empty of live, paintings strewn across the floor, other hung on walls, two sat on stands with nobody to complete them in sight. The headmistress took a moment to appreciate this lonely man's art, mainly to remind herself of how terrible it is, then again it is improving... kinda? It was hard to tell. 

No matter, it's not like anyone but her will see it, and it brought some kind of joy to this old man, so all Glynda could so is appreciated it for keeping the headmaster's dwindling sanity.

The headmistress left everything untouched as she made her way down to the next floor, Azrial still perched on her shoulder enjoying the transportation though the floors of the tower it's know as home for it's entire life. 

"Where are you?" Glynda muttered to herself, opening the next door, this was a small kitchen (not like the headmaster had to cook) and a dining room, immaculately clean as expected, yet no Ozpin in sight. He's a tall man! How can he be so hard to find in his own home? 

The headmistress decended yet another floor, being greeted by an empty living room, and then finally on the last floor she found him, the headmaster of Beacon academy... snoring his head off in his large bed. 

Azrial quickly hopped over to his owner, settling on a prong of his bony crown that attoped the man's head. "Wake up" Glynda almost demanded, kicking her boss in the leg, watching him jump up sending the black raven flying. 

"Ah Glynda, your here" he grunted, rubbing his face as he stood, his eye pokers almost taking the headmistress' eyes out as she stood back.

"Yes, I thought you could use some company" she said watching the headmaster button a shirt on, Azrial reclaiming his moving perch. 

"You look happy Glynda, has something happened?" He asked, pulling up his trousers and effectively hiding his small nub of a tail. 

"I'm sure you know Raven" she smiled, it looked perhaps a bit unnatural but she couldn't help it.

"Of course, you used to tell me stories about her and your adventures through remnant, and then she died, it happens to the best" he said rubbing his bird's chest with a finger, walking past the headmistress as he dressed himself. 

"She's alive, and she came back to me" the headmistress sighed happily, the joy of this event finally setting in after a week of being aware that her faunus is alive. 

"That's amazing Glynda! You should celebrate, we should celebrate. You almost never come and talk to me anymore, even Azrial has missed you" he declared happily, the bird squwarking much like Raven had done to Glynda a few hours before. 

"Perhaps we should, but the thing is Raven has a child now, she doesn't want to leave her daughter's side" 

"How old is the chick?" Ozpin asked, fixing a pair of glasses onto his nose, carefully brushing his shimmering silver hair. 

"Twleve, but she's not even related to Raven but Raven treats her as her own daughter" 

"She's a young girl Glynda, Raven's probably rather old, and birds by their very nature are very maternal, Raven may just want to have that kind of relationship with something" 

"Perhaps your right, Raven did say that she's know her adoptblive daughter since the girl was very young" 

"Well there you go, what's the problem then? Raven loves her daughter, real or fake" 

"But she doesn't want to leave her, not even for a mere hour" 

"As I said before, she's a young girl and Raven is protective, Azrial here is pretty protective, and he's a boy... I think" 

"I can understand protective but this is too much, Raven hissed at me today because I wanted to borrow her for a few hours" 

"Well look at it In her perspective"

"Her daughter, Ruby was... injured at the time, yet it was nothing significant and she was recovering. Raven knew this, she said it herself, I just dont understand why this simple matter could effect her so deeply" 

"Well it's all about instinct, bird faunus are maternal, they care for their children until they are sure they can carry themselves on their own wings, gather food on their own, make a home on their own." The headmaster sighed, thinking deeply to himself. "This world is no easy place for a child to walk alone, Raven seems more aware of this then you are. Raven...

Raven is a wild one, she comes from mystral, she's used to living in flocks of birds, her family, she would have been aroun a lot of children. Her capture was a traumatic one, her family killed before her, nothing but her and her brother remaining. 

She lost her parents at a young age, she must have longed for their contact, for the comfort they provided, if anything her protective actions are not ones that should just be overlooked as something... exststream. 

She simply doesn't want to wish what happened to her apon her child who in a way is in the same position she was herself. What happening much slower, unraveling like a ball of wool rolled across a floor. 

Most don't handle separation well, the children are not the only victims.

Their parents... get struck by a great weight, that their child has been taken. Raven simply doesn't want what happened to her to happen again, she refuses to let go because she thinks once she does, this Ruby Is going to disappear" 

"Perhaps maybe she does fear, Raven never struck me as someone to have fears, to have worries" 

"Everyone has worries, worrying is nature, whether your are human or faunus you possess these simple constants, just because you look like an animal and prowl the bushes doesnt mean you don't possess this worry, be it simple or intense" 

"But Raven, how shall I handle this? She refuses to leave Ruby, only rarely doing so and only so for a short time " 

"If you want my advice, I would say you keep them together, stop trying to separate them, Raven obviously loves this girl, and you become a friend not an enemy." The stag instructed, scratching his bird's chin, he sighed at His vice, the headmistress stuck in thought. "She's a mother now, she bears many burdens, you have simply been trying to remove them from her, in conjunction removing her daughter. She doesn't want rid of these burdens, she holds them like a badge, perhaps you should try and accept that Ruby... might aswell be your faunus too." 

"And then Raven would respect me?" 

"No, not respect, perhaps... appreciation, try getting close to this Ruby girl and then work on respect, give her time instead of just forcing her to do your bidding. And perhaps you should try treating this Ruby as your own, consider what's making Raven so attached to this girl" the headmaster instructed, sweeping through his house, finding the headmistress' package easily. 

"So your suggesting that I should bond with her child?" Glynda asked, watching the headmaster shovel food into his mouth. 

"Well but of course, the poor things probably thinks you hate her, and Raven might think so too" 

The headmistress hummed to that, rubbing her head in thought, Sure Ruby wasn't Glynda's first choice of faunus but she was by far not the worst. Perhaps she should give it a try? She already knows Ruby isn't that fond of her, but the thought of Raven not trusting her owner around her daughter was slightly chilling, even more so considering Glynda was Raven's owner. 

"I will take your advice, it shouldn't be too hard" the headmistress said, just as a loud thump rang through the room. 

"Good, it seems winter isn't too far away" the headmaster announced, holding one of his antlers in hand "I'll let you get back to your dutys. But I will be able to present the festival of kingdoms this year" 

"Excellent, I shall alert the other teachers" Glynda smiled, watching Ozpin practically snap off his remaining antler, leaving him looking fairly human apart from the thick fur covering his hands. But that's a problem easily solved by a pair of sturdy gloves. 

"Amazing, please come by as soon as you can"

"I'll try" 

"That's what you said last time!" He shouted just as the headmistress disappeared into the elevator. 

* * *

5 days later

Glynda sighed to herself, she did think this would be easier but currently she was watching a surprisingly energetic girl bounce around the training hall, chasing after Raven who was obviously letting this small girl win, her faunus was being surprisingly gentle for the usually clumsy, strong boned and imposing faunus. 

Ruby has healed at this point, and after being kept in her room for almost a week she had a lot of pent up energy. The headmistress looked on trying to figure out how to... interact? With this girl, at the moment she was far too energetic for the headmistress. She barely played with Raven when she was the same age, let alone play with her far more bouncy child. 

"Are you just going to watch them all day?" Summer asked, walking up to the headmistress her eyes shielded from the light of the room by a darkened visor that did not look weird (it did) 

"Perhaps I will, perhaps i wont, why are you?" 

"I don't know if you noticed but I'm not particularly well suited for rough and tumble" the wolf faunus commented, looking slightly upset as she watched her daughter announce how triumphant she is while standing over Raven, who was obviously just pretending to be dead. 

"Does it bother you? That you don't get to do what Raven does with Raven" Glynda asked, watching the old wolf faunus shake her head slightly. 

"Not at all really, I mean, sure i do a bit, but i do get to play with Ruby... just not this energetic type of thing. And while Ruby is quite bouncy she tires herself out quickly. And then it's cuddle time, which is the best time with Ruby" 

"So your saying that this only lasts so long?" The headmistress asked, surely she could live with this if it isn't a significant part of the day. 

"Of course, running around that much would tire you out, nevermind a young child with short legs and a small energy reserve. Ruby doesn't notice how tired she is until it hits her all in one go, but then I get to enjoy cuddles" 

"Shouldn't she really go back to her owner for something like that?" 

"Na, Weiss isn't one for it and besides, she's enjoying some quite time to get some studying in for her upcoming exams" Summer informed, her tail wagging slightly as she watched Raven carry their daughter over. 

"And she's out" the bird faunus announced, rubbing Ruby's shoulder, before jumping slightly when she realised her owner was here, Raven responded by holding Ruby closer something unnoticed by Summer but not the headmistress. 

"Miss Schnee probably needs her faunus back" Glynda said trying to disperse the awkward air around her. 

"Your right, I'll get to that" Raven said, looking at Summer apologetically, the wolf faunus just thought before taking Ruhy out of Raven's arms, holding her despite how Ruby was slightly too heavy for her.

"I'm carrying her then" Summer declared holding Ruby close, leading the way as the two other adults followed, Glynda feeling particularly removed as Raven and Summer muttered to themselves, their daughter being held like a large animal that could jump out of her arms as soon as it was given the chance. 

Ruby did look tired, all energy squeezed out of her, but Glynda didn't think she should be carried for a simple matter of her just being tired, yet her two parents seemed to think differently. Sure she seemed to flop around like a wet fish, but that's just the hybridization something that didn't really promote that being carried was necessary. 

And then the headmistress realised that Ruby was watching her, her tail curled, a show of some kind of unknown fear. But she kept on watching, almost glaring at Glynda as time increased, huffing after five minutes and then turning into her mother not hiding persay, just... wanting to lay there with her face shoved in her mother's stomach. 

Something Summer seemed to smiled at, patting Ruby's back. the very end of the little wolf's tail wiggling as the rest of it was accidentally trapped by her mother's arm. but it obviously didn't hurt since Ruby would have loudly let her parents know. And all of beacon know. 

Raven rubbed Ruby's head and then nocked on the door of team RWBY's dorm room it being opened very slowly by Blake who looked them over before welcoming them in. 

Weiss looked up from her book momentarily to watch her faunus be dumped on her bed, the wolf wiggling about getting comfortable among her multiple blankets cushions and toys in preparation for her mid day nap. The heiress smiled a bit at this but she caught a strange look on her professor's face as they then left returning Weiss her faunus. The schnee not at all complaining at seeing the young girl tired out, after all, the best time to be with Ruby is when she's half asleep. 

* * *

 

"Come on Jaune ! You have to admit that Ruby's cute" Nora complained, her teammate sighed, looking at his friend's faunus that has been left in their care, again. Something about her parents arguing with the headmistress meaning that nobody can watch the small wolf while Weiss bonds with her sister. 

"She's a little cute, I can admit" Jaune finally agreed, something Pyrrha, his own faunus, found as blasphemy and began to growl at the little wolf faunus who mewled in fear. Something that Pyrrha earned a hit on the nose for, making her Yelp and scamper away. 

Ruby herself was just sitting on Nora's bed still a bit baffled about how she got here, she did fall asleep and just wake up here and now she's questioning the fundamental balance of reality and how a worm hole could have been opened and maintained to allow teleportation...she's a very cute puppy, isn't she? Just look at that face.  

Nora seemed to think that she's cute, especially considering she's currently petting the little wolf faunus' ears. They are just so soft...

"Oo! Oo! Oo!" 

"What are you a monkey?" Jaune snarked as Nora then huffed 

"How about we all play a game? So Pyrrha and Ruby can play together while not biting each other!" Nora suggested, Ruby getting very interested at the idea of a game, her tail wagging as she walked over to Nora on all fours. Ruby immediately expecting this game but all she got was a coo and a pat on the head for being nice. 

"But what game can we all play? I know ruby can read but Pyrrha can't" Jaune said, deep in thought "and Weiss said that Ruby can't run any more today, that it would be too much stress on her legs" 

"So... maybe we can play a card game? They dont have words" Nora suggested 

"But they would be a bit too complicated for them, they aren't particularly smart, I mean Ren couldn't figure out how to open a latch yesterday"  

Ren didn't respond to this technical insult, since he was asleep, and I think I've said before that if sleeping people responded to question it's really creepy or they just aren't asleep... probably the last one but still, food for thought. 

"What about snap?" Nora asked, watching her teammate think, Ruby becoming even more interested in their conversation, almost climbing over Nora's back as she tried to include herself, but it just made Nora laugh. Feeding the wolf a biscuit given to her by Weiss, and watching as Ruby nibbled on it like a rodent. 

"Snap could work" Jaune agreed smirking at the  happy crunching sound coming from their guest faunus. 

Nora cheered, patting Ruby on the head before going to retrieve a pack of cards, the wolf following her around like a duckling following it's mother. Nora didn't find it annoying, not in the slightest, a bit amusing instead, being able to see this girl galloping after her as she scuffled around the room in search for this elusive pack of cards. 

"I'm glad Weiss got that operation, Ruby's so playful now" Nora commented smiling as the wolf pranced over to to her, her tail wagging the whole time as she proudly presented her owner's friend with ther box of cards she was looking for. 

" I have to agree with her being playful, but I'll say she's nicer aswell" Jaune commented, rubbing between Ruby's ears, satisfied when she nuzzled against his side. Something Pyrrha would never do, but to be fair, the lion faunus thinks she has some kind of superiority over everything. Dammed cat faunus.  

"I know! Why does Weiss always gets the good ones?" 

"I don't know, I heard from Yang that Ruby here can be a real piece of work when she wants to be" Jaune said, his hand being shook off by Ruby when she determined that she no longer wanted his hand there, and then prowled back over to Nora. 

"Naww she's fine, cant be as bad as Pyrrha right? And besides that's compared to Blake and all Blake does is lounge around all day" 

"I wish all cat faunus just lay around all day" Jaune grumbled, after remembering what last happened with his faunus and when he took his eyes off her outside their dorm room. 

"It wasn't my fault!" Pyrrha shouted, growling at her owner until her was hit on the nose again,  making the lion growl more but shut up when she was hit on the nose yet again. 

"Don't Growl!" Jaune shouted, unintentionally scaring Ruby who dashed away from the hunter in training, jumping into Ren's bed, and hiding underneath his blanket, which should have been her bed... if she was in her dormitory, instead she was confronted by a rather fluffy yet tired faunus. The boy patted Ruby's side slightly before going back to sleep, excepting the fact Ruby had just invaded his bed... but then again chinchillas are not very territorial animals.

"Jaune! You scared her!" Nora protested, pointing to the shivering blanket that wished it was back with it's owner. 

"I didn't mean to!" He shouted back, as the two humans then tried to coax Ruby out of the corner without waking Ren again. 

Eventually giving up on both trying to move Ruby and also their snap related dreams... if that's a thing, which it might be...

Ruby just lay next to Ren, re modeling his bed in a way that she can lay down properly on, not really caring about the original arrangement in favour for her own. The girl slightly upset with the lack of pillows but that was something she could settle without.

"Atleast Ruby isn't growling..." Nora said slightly to try and cheer up her teammate, it was true Ruby wasn't Growling, intact she was stealing Ren's warmth by cuddling her way into his light embrace.

"That's true, but that's only because Ren's lazy and she wants hugs" Jaune sighed, flopping on his bed while Pyrrha sulked from being told off, and then hopping on her master's bed laying down at his side. Her long tail flicking like a ropey paintbrush, with a large reddish plume of fur at the end of her tail, she just lay there obediently trying to be good since what had happened recently. 

But Pyrrha yelped slightly when Ruby suddenly jumped onto her back, the small wolf carrying Ren's blanket in her mouth. The lion faunus was curious about this girl now, the blanket brushing against Pyrrha's face as the young one shuffled about. before laying down on the lion's back, curling up with the blanket resting on Pyrrha's head, covering her ears as they where rubbed by her master. 

The lion faunus was a bit confused but enjoyed the pets, staying completely still to get more rewards while Ruby shuffled about, not at all heavy for the lion. Yet even so it was comforting to have her laying on her back, her tail wagging every once in a while when Ruby received an ear rub or two herself. "Nawww that's cute!" Nora almost shouted, before throwing a blanket over the two, watching Ruby partake in her second nap of the day. 

* * *

"Ruby!" 

"Weiss!" The wolf faunus shouted, galloping over to her owner and barreling into her, and licking the Schnee's face in her excitement. 

And then stopping seconds after to clean her tongue of the bitter makeup she just rasped off her owner's face. Leaving the schnee laughing at her disgusted expression. "Ewww" Nora said watching Weiss remove a thick coating of slobber from her face. 

"Dog faunus, she gets too excited sometimes even for herself to handle" the heiress sighed, pocketing her handkerchief "How was she? I hope she didn't do anything too bad" 

"She was awesome! She got Pyrrha to melt, it was really funny" 

"Ok..." Weiss just commented, slipping her faunus a treat watching as she... wolfed it down? 

Eh? Eh?

Ok I'll stop. 

"That's good to hear, since the operation I wasn't so sure that she would calm down or not" Weiss then added, smiling when her faunus nuzzled against her wanting attention yet requesting it in a less demanding way, yet it was still easily gifted to her by her owner. 

"She was so nice! She didn't growl once and she even snuggled with ren!" 

"Perfect, I don't like her to growl at people so it's nice to hear that it's stopped" Weiss smiled, scratching behind her faunus' ears, happy when the wolf pawed  at her. "Thank you for watching her" the schnee smiled. 

"It was no problem, she's an angel" Nora smiled waving goodbye to her friend as she walked her faunus into their dorm 

...

 

"EW EW! BLAKE !" Weiss screamed, running out of the room immediately while Ruby wagged her tail happily... and then rolling in the guts of the smushed up dead fox a rather proud cat faunus dumped in the middle of the room. The wolf faunus enjoying the smell as it covered her body in rotten... stinky... fox juices, the wolf faunus snacking on it's flesh soon after rolling in it. 

Faunus are weird...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cookie snaps are the largest food brand for faunus, they provide multiple different flavours and multiple different types for different spieces of faunus. The favourite flavour of Our protagonist Ruby, is lamb flavoured dog biscuits, but she will happily have beef" 
> 
> Cookie snaps are also the safest faunus related food you could give to your own faunus, since they can also be ate by humans if the situation demanded it. Some brands of faunus food can be toxic to faunus, but have good lawyers.


	20. Bonding

Weiss wasn't very happy, after returning from vomiting in a nearby bin she was greeted by a very happy wolf faunus covered head to tail in fox guts. In good news it was easy to get her into the bathtub atleast, though it was Mainly because Ruby loves water. 

Weiss just sighed rubbing her face as she tried to splash water over her faunus the girl absolutely overjoyed by being covered in in warm water yet it was the fact she was so excitable that ment that she didn't stop splashing Water everywhere. Making Weiss, the walls, the floor, most of the ceiling, and the tree outside wet. 

It definitely didn't help that every time even the slightest bit of moisture dripped onto Ruby's face she shook. The heiress being covered in water yet again every time her faunus shook, it's not really like the wolf could control it, it was just annoying. 

Though one the smell was gone and Ruby was now smelling sweetly of strawberries Weiss quickly covered the girl in as many towels as she could grab to try and keep her warm while the heiress struggled to carry the clean wolf into the dorm room. Yang was still scrubbing the carpet to clean up her faunus' mess. 

"Atleast the smell's gone" Weiss huffed, dumping her faunus on the Schnee's bed, carefully rubbing Ruby dry.

"It was absolutely Rank, I'm going to talk to Blake when she gets back"  Yang sighed still hunched over scrubbing the carpet. 

"Atleast Ruby no longer stinks" Weiss added, petting her faunus' fluffy hair that stuck out in weird places. The wolf faunus wagged her tail wiggling closer to her owner. 

"Yeah but your soaked" Yang pointed out 

"It's worth it" the heiress sighed, "watch her" she ordered going to take a shower. 

"Your not going to roll again aren't you?" Yang said looking up at Ruby who was huddling up in her multitude of towels, shivering from the wind wafting into the room to remove the dead fox smell. "No I don't think you are" 

"Cold" Ruby mumbled, making the blonde sigh, coming over and hugging the wolf, sharing some of her natural flamey warmth which pleased the faunus. The young dragon smiled patting the young girl's back when she wiggled close to her. 

"Your so nice now" she smiled letting the naked wolf sit happily in an alcove made of blonde hair and boobies. "A very nice puppy who doesn't bite, unlike the last wolf" she grumbled, making Ruby confused, but she didn't question it , instead just enjoying warmth while she had it. 

"That's sweet" Weiss said coming back into the room covered In a towel after a lightning quick shower. "I'm guessing she's stopped biting you?" 

"Yup, she's so soft now" Yang smiled rubbing Ruby's hair, and then being amazed at how fluffy her hair was. "But go get her dressed, I'm going to find out how wants a ... fox skeleton" 

"Maybe Fox would like it?" Weiss suggested pulling her faunus into her pyjamas. 

"Good idea, I'll go asked" Yang smiled making Weiss groan that it was supposed to be a joke yet it was too late on account that Yang had already left the dorm with a half eaten rotting corpse in gloved hand. 

Weiss sighed, holding her faunus close the girl milling around giving her best attempt to groom her owner like she did to her.../ the heiress gave her faunus a bath and she's showing appreciation. Weiss just pushed her away a little until pinning her down a little so she could brush practically everything. 

Pulling a brush through her hair, combing her tail, ears, and her hair again. The tiny wolf tried to help her owner brush her own hair but only ended up getting in the way, but it was successful in making Weiss laugh slightly. "Alright that's enough fluffy, I know your happy but now it's time to calm down" 

Ruby whined slightly wiggling over to her owner nestling up to her side. "That's a good puppy" Weiss praised, stroking her faunus' ears, letting her rest her head on her leg. "You just couldn't help getting that stinky fox all over you" she sighed expanding her scroll starting to tap on the screen for some reason or another but Ruby wasn't particularly bothered, she got her ear scratches and a nice place to take a predinner nap. 

* * *

"Naww that's cute" Yang cooed, watching her teammate and her teammate's faunus sleep. Weiss was ment to wake Ruby before dinner but she ended up falling asleep with her faunus, clutching onto the furry girl. 

"It's a shame they must be woken before breakfast" Blake commented meekly, her punishment for the fox had been rather severe, and she was rather shaken by it. Her tail refused to straighten remaining coiled and reserved, her fur was prickled all along her spine, and her ears where pulled back on her head clearly showing her trembling. 

Yang didn't respond to her faunus' comment, instead just crouching down and shaking Weiss' shoulder, the heiress only batted her hand away, pulling Ruby closer to her. The little wolf didn't react at all, fast asleep chewing her owner's shirt, usually a habit that her own blankets would be subjected to but due to the fact Ruby couldn't gain access to the edge of the covers her owner will be inflicted with a wet patch on her shoulder. 

Yang sighed, as cute as it was to watch them sleep Ruby will not be happy if she was allowed to miss two meals, so she tried to wake them again, this time ripping the covers from both of them. Weiss all but screeched as Ruby yelped scrambling off the bed and scampering around the room for a few seconds until she realised there was no danger.  Well apart from Yang who Ruby was still not very sure about. 

The tiny wolf was soon grabbed by the back of her shirt, lifted from the ground back on her owner's bed. "What the hell where you thinking!?" Weiss shouted while Ruby whined loudly.

"I'm thinking that we need to get to breakfast, you both have slept for a really long time" Yang growled slightly angered by the fact she had been shouted at for something that could be classified as helping. 

"Wait what time is it?" Weiss asked frantically, as Ruby continues her wolfish crys of complaint 

"Seven ish" Yang shrugged squinting at the wall clock. 

"Uggh" Weiss groaned, rubbing her face "quite!" She then snapped to her faunus who huffed pawing at her owner instead, being relatively careful not to scratch the heiress. 

"Don't be mean she's only hungry" 

"I know she's hungry, she's always hungry, but her whines are not helping my headache" the white haired huntress in training sighed, pulling herself off her bed being closely followed by her faunus. "I'm more annoyed that i let Ruby sleep on my bed, she knows she's not allowed to do that" 

"You let her on your bed every hour of the day, of course she's going to like it there. And the fact you let her sleep there that one time, your kinda sending mixed messages" 

"That was once and it was a bad idea" Weiss growled, using her hand to scrape the area where her faunus was sleeping just a few minutes before "look at how much fur there is, it's disgusting" the heiress scowled, brushing the pile of black fur onto her faunus' bed. 

"It's getting into Summer Weiss, even Blake is molting" Yang sighed watching Ruby bend herself into strange shapes so she can... do what faunus do, which made Yang turn away in disgust. 

"It's gross" Weiss staited looking at her faunus before turning away "ok the fur isn't too bad" 

"Should we give her some privacy?" Yang asked 

"I don't know but I regret letting her lick my hand now" 

"Doesn't she still have stitches there?" 

...

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted, quickly pulling her faunus away from her abdomen. "You stupid faunus, I told you not to do that!" 

"It's itchy" the faunus whined.

"I know it's itchy, but... food! Let's get breakfast" Weiss said becoming relatively cheerful, getting her faunus riled for food which worked instantly. Ruby sprung to life prancing next to her owner as she walked her down to the canteen, even though Ruby was still in her pyjamas. 

* * *

"Ruby!" Velvet shouted jumping over the table to join her best friend, her little cotton tail wiggling while she greeted the wolf. 

"Hi~" the little wolf greeted, wagging her tail turning back to her food momentarily as she licked her plate clean. 

"That's just unnatural" Blake mumbled watching the two faunus sniffing each other, the tiny wolf was overjoyed to see her friend uncaring about her other friend's idea about her other friendship. 

"Be nice Ruby" Weiss smiled stroking her faunus' ears back, watching them pop up with every stroke. 

"She's been fine with Velvet for a while, just get her something to munch on" Yang sighed, watching the heiress rejoin the breakfast line for more food for her faunus 

"They are cute together" Blake muttered, watching her two faunus friends methodically groom each other, Ruby's long and rather clumsy licks, and Velvet's short and rapid laps. 

"That they are" Coco agreed Ruby wagging her tail the whole time, she was a lot happier after she got her food and now she's getting even more food, really putting to the test just how compulsive she can be and just how easy it is to over feed her. 

Yang sighed, carefully stroking the top of  her friend's faunus' head, Ruby didn't seem to be that bothered by it but she did shake the blonde off. "Oi! I only want to pet you" the blonde huffed. 

"She doesn't like being stroked there" Weiss sighed, scratching between her faunus' ears "if you want to mess up her fur you might aswell scruff it up all the well so she can smooth it down herself" the heiress said, sitting down next to the wolf who quickly wiggled to her side, enjoying being in Weiss' presence, especially considering the heiress was slowly hand feeding her little strips of bacon.

"You spoil her, truly you do" Yang sighed, watching her teammate. 

"My faunus my rules, I can 'spoil' her If I want to and I am not spoiling her!" Weiss shouted as the other humans raised an eyebrow aswell as Blake. 

"Come on, she's wearing silk! Silk! I don't own anything that expensive" 

"Don't you have that gaustly bike? I'm sure that must have cost something" 

"Technically that's my dad's, but still!"

"Well I'm sorry for wanting her to look presentable" Weiss huffed crossing her arms while Ruby tried to get more bacon, unfortunately ruining the tough attitude Weiss was trying to put on as the wolf nuzzled under her arms.

"It's one thing for presentable, but it's another to use her as a dress up doll" Yang groaned, truly this girl really got on her nerves some times, she was allowed to do pretty much anything she wanted, got the best food, best clothing, best bedding and all the best toys, and she was allowed to lay about doing absolutely nothing all day with no consequences. 

"She doesn't mind" Weiss huffed, pulling her faunus onto her lap, distracting her with even more bacon. 

"That's because you feed her treats every second of the day, she isn't even doing anything and your still giving her treats" Yang huffed while the heiress kept on feeding her do- faunus. 

"She's hungry" 

"She's always hungry" the blonde growled 

* * *

 

"Good girl, now fetch" Weiss shouted throwing a long white something that might be ice but could be wood without bark. Which is ironic considering Ruby has lots of bark. 

"You do know your in the middle of class" the headmistress sighed slowly sitting down on the grass next to the heiress. "Just because you can't participate doesn't mean you can waste time" 

"I am not wasting time, I'm bonding" Weiss huffed, throwing the ice/ stick again watching her faunus gallop after it. 

"That's not bonding, your mearly teaching your faunus to run away from you" the headmistress huffed, her own faunus slowly walking over with Summer in her wing, making eye contact with her owner briefly, giving her a none verbal threat before sitting down under a tree a few meters away. 

"I'm playing with her, she's too young for anything else" Weiss huffed, throwing the stick/ ice yet again, watching Ruby dart off again. 

"You could attempt to teach her some more complicated commands" 

"She doesn't understand anything with more then one movement, she's too young" throw 

"Then you could atleast bond with her properly instead of teaching her bad habits" 

"I am bonding with her, I am playing" throw 

"I would hardly count this as playing, she's one or the smarter kinds of faunus she needs mental stimulation" 

"She gets plenty of mental stimulation, she just likes to play fetch, so I'm playing it with her because she enjoys it" throw 

"I can agree with the fact that she enjoys it, but it's the wrong kind of 'playing' for her spiecies, you should provide her with proper material instead of these silly toys you carry around" 

"Well if it's an incorrect type of playing what do you suggest?" Throw 

"I would suggest a brain tester task" 

"Go get your own stick" Ruby huffed, trotting over to her owner.

"I really don't think she will even attempt something like that" Weiss sighed, reaching out for her faunus to lay down next to her, and despite the fact it was ten in the morning she was quickly asleep within minutes. "Your welcome to try, try not to get bit" said the heiress, leaving the blonde alone with her sleeping faunus. 

"What? She's asleep!" Glynda shouted 

"She'll wake up in a minute!" Weiss shouted back, marching away and back inside the school building, going to do Weiss things that only Weiss can engage in, like drinking wine from goblets made of pure dust, and strutting about in glass shoes. Aka rich people stuff that Ruby has no care for. 

"Yeah right like you will wake up" Goodwitch huffed, carefully reaching out and stroking along the tiny wolf's back, but as soon as she came in contact with Ruby's back she flinched, springing up surprised. 

"Ruby" someone else called, beckoning the wolf over, easily being recognised as Raven, she didn't really have to do much to call her, just speak her name and she came running obediently. The thing is Raven didn't do anything with that obedience, just forcefully pulling her where she wanted her to be. "Your never going to get her to do any of the things you want her to do" Raven then spoke up. 

"Who are you to judge that" Glynda huffed, moving over to the three faunus, really two because Summer wasn't particularly responsive. 

"I am the person you tried those things on, and I'm going to tell you that Ruby will not do them" the bird faunus sighed, stroking her daughter's cheeks while Summer reached round to rub the bottom of her right ear. 

"Maybe Ruby will be different to you, you are both very different faunus, maybe she'll like them" Glynda tried watching technically her two faunus very carefully caress their daughter, being very careful not to scratch her, while Ruby just sat there loving every second of it. 

"I doubt she will" Raven scoffed laying her arm over Ruby's back when the wolf decided her life's mission was to become a koala and forever be attached to her mother's middle. 

"I can always try" Glynda huffed, listening to the faint toll of the school bell "class dismissed" she announced. 

* * *

"Come on, look here, you need to put the pieces together" the headmistress sighed tapping her desk but Ruby really didn't care, she took one look and then gave Glynda a face of disgust. "It's a puzzle, you put the pieces together and it makes a picture" 

"Why do I have to do it? It's your thingy" Ruby huffed pushing the pieces away. 

"It's not that hard it's only one thousand pieces" Glynda huffed, sitting down opposite the tiny wolf who was beginning to get bored. 

"I told you she wouldn't be interested" Raven huffed. 

"No no, she just doesn't understand how it works" 

"She knows how it works Glynda she doesn't want to do it" 

"Well I'll go get a different puzzle" Goodwitch huffed while Ruby slowly pushed the puzzle pieces into the bin. 

"I feel so sorry for you" Raven said placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. 

"Surly one of these should give her some intrest!" The headmistress said slamming down a box on her desk in front of Ruby. 

"The box is back" the bird faunus groaned. 

"You loved the box, I still have the wooden box that you haven't solved yet" 

"It can't turn left ! Why can't it!?" Raven shouted smashing her hand down on the desk, making everything jump into the air. 

"Ok, let's just breath there's no need to get upset" Glynda said quickly scrambling for her fruit bowl and passing Raven an orange which quickly calmed her to the point that she scuttled off to share it with Summer. "Alright Ruby, let's find something you will enjoy" 

 

...

 

"Nothing!?" Glynda shouted, practically tearing her hair out while Ruby whined flattening her ears at the loud rants from the headmistress about how it was impossible for her to not like any of the constructive 'toys' that she has in her possession... for some reason. I believe they may have been for Raven, but your entitle to your own opinion, or not, especially if your opinion is wrong. 

"Your mean, I'm going to find Weiss" Ruby declared, obviously frustrated as she trotted out of the class room, off to find her owner. Leaving the headmistress to wallow in her failure. 

"Glynda, come on" Raven sighed. 

"What? I tried, I failed, I give up" 

"Go get her, she doesn't know here Weiss is she's probably just wandering about in the hall" 

"What's the point? She doesn't listen and all she wants to do is lay around" 

"I seem to remember you wanting to bond with her, the only way you can do that is to actually have her in the room" 

"But I can't do anything with her!" 

"Well let her do something with you, she's young, she doesn't want to do those things, maybe you'll have fun aswell" 

"I hate it when your right" Glynda grumbled 

"You know I am! Grab her shirt she's as light as a paper clip!" Raven shouted while the headmistress jogged at a stedy pace easily catching up to Ruby in no more then a minute. 

"Hold it, you can't walk around in the halls alone, you could get hurt" Glynda sighed, rubbing Ruby's cheek briefly, surprised when the little wolf in a impressive display of skill snatched her glasses off her face. "Hey!" The headmistress shouted at the dark blur of a faunus that was quickly skittering away from her. 

"Your mean!" Ruby shouted very much upset at the fact she was probably going to be forced to spend time with someone she doesn't like. 

"Raven!" Glynda shouted, squinting around the halls unable to differentiate a door from a light fixture, though her shouts did attract her faunus, which quickly retrieved her spare glasses which also made her look like someone from an Atlas 80's restaurant. 

But now the headmistress had a small dilemma in her hands, one she was missing a faunus who didn't belong to her, two that faunus had a record of annoying other faunus, three that faunus also had her glasses. And if you couldn't tell Glynda really likes that pair of specks. And finally four, she had one hour to find that faunus before classes ended and her owner comes to retive her. 

A small dilemma indeed. 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dog faunus are known for their loyalty, they have a desire to follow their master wherever they go. Wolf faunus on the other hand don't give a flying fish half the time, but once their owner and friend has earned their trust and respect, there's very little on remnant that can brake that bond.


	21. A single feather doesn't impede flight.

"You know Raven, sometimes I just find your human rather funny" Summer mused. 

"I can agree with you on that Summer" Raven sighed, watching her owner frantically dash about the halls. 

"You two aren't helping!" Glynda shouted very scared and very worried, but technically her two faunus where not worried at all. 

"We don't really see the problem, she's a smart girl she won't get into too much trouble" Raven scoffed as a loud yelping echoed though the halls. "Ruby! You stupid child!" Raven shouted rushing though the halls while Summer quickly followed on all fours. 

"I thought you said she was smart!" Glynda shouted struggling to keep up with the very fit and very fast faunus that she apparently owns but has no control over. 

"She's twelve! She's not going to make the best decisions sometimes" the bird faunus snapped, skidding to a stop when Summer did. 

"Fur" the old wolf said, picking up a tuft of black and red fur and showing it to Raven "it's from her tail if that helps" 

"Did someone grab her?" Raven muttered really starting to get scared which is saying something considering it was Raven "I keep knives in my wings" Rose

"I can't hear her" Summer muttered 

"That doesn't mean that much" Raven said rather softly to her partner, trying to spare her feelings about the fact that, that information was kinda useless. "How about you go back to the room? we'll find Ruby, she'll be ok" 

"Ok" Summer sighed walking away, running her hand along the wall to lead her back to her shared room. 

"Why did you do that? I thought you like having Summer with you" Glynda asked shocked 

"I do and I love her dearly but she struggles to even recognise Ruby" Raven mumbled, scowering the hall "if she was snatched my birds would have gone mad" 

"She must have gotten her tail caught on something then" Goodwitch mumbled 

"Then she might have gotten scared and ran" 

"But she can't run successfully and Weiss did give her some exercise, she must be close by" Glynda sighed both human and faunus progressing through the halls, completely ignorant to the soft red light turning from an illuminated G to the number 1. 

* * *

 "Are you positive this will work?" Raven asked looking at the strange contraption that her owner has devised from a spare crate, some cookie snaps, a length of string, and a few of Raven's shedded  feathers. 

"Possibly" Glynda muttered, backing up around a corner holding the string "now shhh she's coming" she hushed listening to footsteps, waiting for the sound of crushing biscuits before pulling the sting, trapping a very squealy Ruby "got her" 

That's not Ruby" Raven commented listening to this thing rattle about in that box. 

"What else could be about in the halls at this time?" Glynda scoffed, opening the box as one huged and peeved off rat hissed at her. "That's not Ruby" 

"Told you, your idea didn't work, let me try" Raven huffed crossing her arms, relaxing her wings slightly when the rat ran away, being followed quickly by one of the school's residents cats. 

"No no, I've got this, I lost her so it's my responsibility" 

"Well If your that passionate about it" Raven mumbled really scratching her head over where her daughter had went "Maybe she whent into a classroom?" 

"Theres no classrooms along this hall, or most of the other halls in this building, it's the teacher's block it's primarily offices and a few broom closets, the only classrooms are my own and ports and he has a class right now" 

"Ah and the offices are locked." Raven sighed rubbing her face trying to wrap her head around what's happening. Raven was a rather old but a rather smart faunus, a lot smarter then most faunus, but sometimes even she got caught out, usually forgetting things, like details about a school she's lived in for eight years. "Perhaps she went outside the building? She did say she was going to look for Weiss and Weiss is in the dust labs right now" 

" but Ruby has never been in the dust labs, she isn't allowed to on account of her severe allergy and her flickering aura, she could cause an explosion in seconds" 

"Ruby has a flickering aura?" Raven asked surprised 

"Yes, it isn't enough to cause any problems apart from the fact it activates dust particles at times" 

"Well that's helpful when her partner is a dust mage" 

"But that's unimportant at the moment, the important factor is that Ruby is missing" 

"And we don't know where she is" 

"But we do know where she could be" Glynda added 

" she could have gone to the canteen, one of the classrooms that Weiss has for a subject, her room or very possibly upstairs but we both know Ruby hates going up staircases" 

"And we've only got half an hour to find her until Weiss returns" 

"But that's more of your problem then mine" 

"You could atleast try!" 

"Your not going to find her in half an hour, so I will not try because I know that my efforts will be wasted" 

"Your optimistic" Glynda deadpanded, truly surpisedbat her faunus' response, out of everyone she thought that Raven would be the most concerned, thinking for a few seconds provided her with the answer "You also rely too much on those birds!" The headmistress then realised. 

"So what if I do? They tell me whenever Ruby's in danger, they always are watching her, not a single one of my birds has told me anything so she must be safe." Raven growled crossing her arms, just as a bird frantically smashed though a window, cawing horrible and erratically at that bird faunus who instantly stiffened. 

"Still convinced she's ok?" Gkynda snarked at the wrong time in the wrong situation and got glared at. 

Raven growled, grabbing her human and diving out a window spreading her wings as she struggled to fly though swarming ravens, all of them panicking. summoning students and teachers to exit their classes to look up in awe at the swarm straight out of a horror film. In the middle of all this was Raven trying not to swat the birds out of the air with her massive wings. 

All though this the headmistress was clinging onto her faunus for dear life trying not to plummet to her death. "I can't see her" Raven growled, trying to look at the place the birds where directing her to but all she was was her own reflection flapping back to her. 

"I know where she is" Glynda realised, getting her unsurprisingly strong faunus to land running back into the building making the headmistress question why they jumped out of the window in the first place if they where going to go back into the building. 

"You know where she is? Where then! Tell me!" Raven demanded growling slightly 

"She's up there" glynda sighed standing before a metal door she interacts with every day, one that's a lot more ominous then she remembers, and subsequently the same door they, more specially Summer found that tuft of tail fur. Because... well it is a book, if this was real life Ruby would be left to her fate until the next time Glynda intends to galabant with the headmaster.

This factor left Glynda with a relatively bad feeling about this, sure it wouldn't be catastrophic if someone saw the headmaster at this very particular time of year, but his lack of contact with all other faunus and humans was not chosen but instead necessary for more reasons then the obvious. 

As many questions as this raises the most prominent one in Glynda's mind at the moment was how in the world did Ruby managed to get into the elevator in the first place. But if probably has something to do with the conveniently placed pair of glasses that Ruby conveniently snatched right off the headmistress' face.

You know, probably. 

"Can you open the door?" Raven asked not at all questioning the how and what of what's going on but instead was thinking about her dear innocent daughter that was beyond her reach and sight. 

"Of course I can" Glynda scoffed, quickly tapping in an unimportant series of numbers which was technically the number of volumes in rwby transferred into words written backwards and then put in alphabetical order. Anyway! the doors glided open inviting them in with a small piece of abstract art made out of faunus blood, thankfully not a whole lot of faunus blood to be overly concerning but still enough to set Raven's nerves haywire. "Well that's lovely" Goodwitch commented with a raised nose trying to block from her mind the fact that she will have to clean that up later. 

"I just hope she's ok" Raven mumbled, tightening herself.

"I do too" Glynda sighed, twenty minutes left and Ruby possibly hurt this wasn't the best outcome, but it also wasn't the worse. She was pretty sure that the headmaster wouldn't kill her after all, he was normally quite a calm and collected faunus, but then again the last time the headmaster saw a faunus was a very long time ago. 

"What's even up here? I don't think any one has ever been up here apart from you" Raven said trying not let the daunting sound of the elevator slowly approaching it's destination get to her. 

"The headmaster" Glynda just answered as the doors opened reaviling a bird, a raven looking rather ruffled on it's perch. The desk was swept of it's papers, it's chair was toppled over and the floor was covered in scratch marks, fluffy feathers, fur and more blood. 

"The headmaster? Isn't he such a recluse that people only ever see him during every other festival of kingdoms?" 

"Well yes, but this is where he lives, and he can be rather... eccentric with an interesting personality" Glynda said with a crooked smile. 

"Interesting enough to attack a young faunus?" Raven asked, stroking the raven's soft chest feathers which was greatly appreciated by the bird who looked rather dreadful at the moment. 

"I hope not" Glynda mumbled, thankful that Raven didn't have particularly sensitive hearing on account of the fact that she's a bird faunus... 

"The headmaster sure likes hunting" the bird faunus commented looking around the room at all the dear antlers that lined the walls. 

"Yes, hunting" Glynda scoffed searching around the room for any signs of the young faunus while her own faunus looked around aswell. 

"The question is now, where is Ruby" Raven asked, reacting just in time for a red streak to dart across the room, smashing into Raven's stomach nocking both the wind and her balance out of her. "There she is!" The faunus greeted happily, but her good attitude wasn't reciprocated by Ruby. 

"Scary man!" She cried whimpering into her mother's chest, her reddish black tail looked a lot redder then normal, it's long fluffy fur smelling strongly of metallic iron. But for Ruby she didn't seem that bothered, more or so bothered by the fact the tall stocky man Glynda formally knows as Ozpin was coming up the slightly hidden stairs. 

"I was trying to clean your tail puppy" he huffed out of breath, holding a spray bottle and a large box of bandages, but by the looks of it he has more bandages then ruby had on, which is an indication at how mummified his arms looked. 

"Not scary man, helpful man" Raven smiled, patting the little wolf's back the tiny girl whimpering slightly while he approached pulling Ruby's tail out from it's curled up position. 

"What even happened?" Glynda asked, hesitantly crouching down next to her faunus and her faunus' child, carefully stroking the wolf's head. 

"Her tail got nipped by the door, she whent mad, ran around the room, kicked me in the face, destroyed some of paintings, scratched my arms up, pushed me into poor Azrial and ripped up my curtains." 

"Explains why she's so tired" Raven commented, holding her daughter close, and then pulling her owner's glasses off Ruby's face, making her question how she even got them to stay on, it's not like she has ears there. "and I believe these are yours" 

"That they are" Glynda sighed happily, replacing her glasses while Raven got up holding her child who was looking rather floppy, that is if someone can look like a density. Just picture a dead snake with legs ears and a belly button aswell as drool. 

"Ten minutes" Raven reminded, while the headmaster continued to spray Ruby's tail with just water, to get most the blood of it, it was tiny cut but it bled like crazy just because it's on her tail. 

"She's a cute puppy, she's just a lot of work" the headmaster commented, scratching behind her ears. 

"She's a pain that's what she is" Raven grumbled, but sighed a little after a while, "always getting into trouble, but I love her anyway" 

"Your going soft Raven" Glynda sighed opening the elevator and inviting the two faunus in, not the headmaster though he has to stay.

"It was nice to meet you" the headmaster said, waving slightly to the two faunus, but Ruby really did not care, she just cared about cuddling with her mother. 

But even in this moment, and the moment after, and ever after that, nobody could quite itch the feeling that something may happen. Weiss pondered on it as she looked out into the calm night, Ruby was swept with dread for all of two seconds before snuggling back into her bed. Raven paused for a moment until Summer too her attention away, Summer herself took a moment to watch the black red eyed birds that patrolled the school flutter by her window, but never the less continued on. 

The only one who seemed remotely concerned was the silent predator coiling beneath a blanket of vibrant yellows firey oranges and dazzling reds of the freshly fallen autumn leaves. Her amber eyes held and unnatural fire as she slithered along her way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faunus tend not to have to conform to their natural animal's diet, but instead can consume a wide range of food, unless their faunus trate interacts with their jaw and teeth so much that they are constricted to specific foods. Although they tend to enjoy food more like what their counterpart would eat .


	22. Hallow's day

"Officially a teenager!" Ruby cheered, bounding along like a clumsy cow with all the joy in the world inset in it's heart. 

"Yes what a joy" Weiss huffed, bearly sharing in Ruby's sheer glee, but if it was any indication by the stuffed bags she was carrying she has full intent on spoiling her faunus on her birthday. "Ruby look" she then said, motioning up ahead just as a single speck of ice fluttered down from the sky followed by another "winter is almost here" the heiress mused, watching her faunus try and catch the tiny snow flakes as they fell. 

"Exuse me! I would greatly benefit if you put that disastrous hound of yours on a leash" a gaustly woman round and plump with fingers that looked like sausages and moved like them too. The slabs of pork where clasped around a rather large chain that portrayed more danger about her pheasant then it showed it's self, more interested in it's own feathers then the world around it. 

"Ruby wouldn't harm anyone" Weiss scoffed, watching her faunus prancing about, never too far away from her owner, always in her sight, no further then a name call away. 

"She's a faunus and a faunus is no better then a wild animal without proper control and you obviously has no control at all"  the woman growled with more boisterous anger then Pyrrha the grouchy lion. 

"I am a huntress and as a huntress I have control over my faunus without use of a... leash" Weiss scoffed watching her roadside annoyance waddle off. 

"Weiss I caught one!" Ruby shouted, running over to her owner "look at it!" She chirped uncupping her hands revealing a wet spot which dampened the girl's mood a bit "where did it go?" She asked spinning around in a circle trying to find it. 

"Ruby"Weiss sighed, pointing at her faunus's chest" right there, that's where the snowflake is" she smiled, her finger resting on a neatly embroidered emblem on her faunus' chest. 

"Ooo" Ruby said with a wagging tail touching the emblem herself, running a finger across it's edges "is it the same snow flake that I caught?" 

"No no, of course not, all snowflakes are different but that one is very special" 

"It's your snowflake!" Ruby shouted happily, her tail wagging at her exclamation, but it earned her a few ear scratches and a biscuit. 

"Yes, now come along Ruby theres another shop along here that I wish to see" Weiss sighed walking on while her faunus followed. 

"Weiss, don't you think We've been to enough shops?" Ruby asked looking up at her owner, it wasn't much of a choice, more of because Ruby was so small and Weiss was so tall. Well tall in Ruby's eyes. 

"Why do you think so? Are you getting tired?" 

"A little" Ruby whined, her ears drooping, and her tail curling, she looked like a wilting plant, with legs of course. 

"Let's make this shop the last then" Weiss decided "and then we can go to a cafe" 

"Oo and then cake!" 

"Yes I'll get you cake" 

"And apple juice?"

"Since when have you liked apple juice? I thought you didn't like apples" 

"I don't but I like apple juice" 

" who gave you apple juice? I don't remember giving it to you" 

"Blake did, she said it was nice and she was right" 

"Well, I'll get you apple juice" 

"Yay!" Ruby cheered, jumping up and down on the spot a few times before holding onto her owner's arm like the good faunus she is.

"It is your birthday after all" Weiss said rolling her eyes. 

"Is that why everyone's dressed up?" Ruby asked, watching people wear weird costumes. 

"No it's because it's Hallows night" 

"What's Hallows night?" 

"It's a celebration about... pumpkins? I'm not particularly sure but it began a long time ago when people weren't exactly as sain as they are today" 

"Can we get a pumpkin?" 

"What would you want to do with it? It's not like they have much use" 

"I don't know I just want to see one" 

"I could take you to see one, but I won't buy you one- mind your step" Weiss warned helping Ruby jump over a small ledge. "It would just rot and we would have to throw it away" 

"What even is a pumpkin?" 

"I think it's a vegetable, big orange and round" 

"Is it like a pineapple?" 

"What? Pineapple? I thought you could only get them in mistral, since when have you had one?" 

"My mum used to fly for a really long time to get them, she loves pineapple and she gave me some one time, it was really tasty" 

"Well, I guess I should get you pineapple sometimes" Weiss sighed with a bit of smile, watching her faunus bounce off to go look at the toys. "Don't leave the shop without me Ruby!" Weiss shouted getting a muffled affirmative sound from the background. 

"You must be miss schnee" a kindly old shopkeeper said "I have your package here" 

"Thank you, I'm sure my faunus will love it" 

"I am positive she will" Weiss agreed with the old man taking hold of the box, just as her faunus bounced back over holding a floppy fuzzy toy bat "and I'm assuming that I now want to buy this aswell" the heiress said holding up the toy that Ruby wanted. 

"Fluffy little thing isn't she?" The shop owner smiled going to pet Weiss' faunus but she flinched away, quickly going to her owner's side and hiding under her arm. "And a shy one aswell" 

"Not particularly but she's not fond of strangers touching her" Weiss sighed, stroking her faunus' feathery hair while she nuzzled into her side. "But she's a good girl who always come back to me" 

"I wish I could say the same about my own faunus, but he's a lovely young man, he does come back just hardly not enough." The old man said with a small smile gracing his face, as he exchanged the slip of lien for the fuzzy bat that Ruby happily accepted. 

"Maybe I've met him, it's a small world after all" 

"Maybe you have, faunus do know more people then any of us human could even imagine" 

"Well, thank you for the parcel" 

"Not a problem, have a nice day" 

"Nice man" Ruby said, just before leaving, her tail constantly wagging behind her. "can we get cake now?" 

"Yes and now cake, and apple juice, we can have a nice sit down and I can read my new book" 

"Is it the one with the gnomes?" 

"It's the one with the wardrobe, and it has the lion in it"

"Oo I liked that one" Ruby chirped holding onto her owner's hand, even though her owner's hand was clasped around the handles of bags, Ruby was a very good girl who always followed her owner. 

* * *

 "Weiss, by this point Ruby's going to have to have a room all to herself for all her stuff" Yang grumbled helping the heiress spread out all the new toys that had been bought today, Ruby was practically ecstatic, rolling about with great excitement, flicking things up as she giggled joyfully. 

"Well maybe she should have her own room, at the manor my faunus always had their own room" Weiss said ducking slightly when a rogue tail almost swatted her in the cheek. It probably wouldn't hurt, it probably will feel quite nice, Ruby's tail was particularly fluffy. 

"I ment it as a joke" Yang deadpanded, rubbing her face slightly, "does your farther know about Ruby though?" 

"I believe he does but I'm not completely sure" Weiss sighed, not really liking to think about her farther, or what he may or may not think of Ruby, it's not like he's met her before, he might know of her though. But with Ruby sensing her owner's slight distress, suddenly popped up and lounged over her lap, her tail wiggling as she tried to get her owner's attention. "I'm ok Ruby, it's fine" the schnee sighed running her fingers though the tiny girl's hair. 

"How do you even know Ruby's birthday? I don't know Blake's" 

"Her mother told me a few weeks ago, she didn't know the date but she said it was on Hallows day, which is today" 

"That explains why Jaune is dressed up as big foot" Yang realised, giving Ruby a few ear scratches as she stood back up, stretching out "I'm going to go find where Blake wandered off too" 

"I'm going to just stay here" Weiss sighed, ignoring Ruby trying to pull her over into the mass of cuddly toys. 

"Suit yourself" Yang shrugged walking off and no longer becoming relevant. 

"Can I get ice cream?" Ruby then suddenly asked, pouncing on her owner, her tail wagging happily every second of every minute, she was incredibly joyful today, it was her birthday after all. 

"Don't you think you've had enough sugar today?" Weiss asked stripping the sheets from her faunus' bed, quickly replacing them and brushing some fur away. It's not like she could do much about it, and she wasn't going to do much about it, it was her faunus' bed and it was a place Ruby was allowed to molt all her fur over.

"Never!" Ruby shouted squealing when she was pushed onto her newly made bed. 

"If you get any more energy your not going to sleep for a week" Weiss sighed watching her faunus wiggle about fighting with her covers. 

"Can I have just a little bit?" She asked, prowling over to Weiss when she was finished brawling with her blanket. 

"After dinner" Weiss sighed rubbing her faunus' head watching her prance off to play with her toys, rolling about and slithering on her stomach like a snake with legs. "Strange girl" the heiress smirked, sitting on her bed ignoring her faunus for a moment while she had a jolly time entertaining herself. 

Weiss was all for leaving Ruby to play with herself, after all it was one of the very few times that Ruby didn't need her owner's constant and undivided attention. And she did mention that she had a new book she wanted to read, but as soon as she pulled it out Ruby pounced on her snuggling up to her side "I guess you want to read this one with me" 

"Yeah!" The faunus chirped, wagging her tail slightly while she pulled some of her toys up onto her owner's bed before calming down a bit while her owner flicked to her place. 

It turns out that Weiss won't be getting a rest from her faunus, but it wasn't too bad to just lay down with her a read in silence. 

* * *

"It's nice to see you again Roman" kindly old man greeted when a particularly foxy faunus sauntered through his door. 

"And it's a joy to see you again, but I would love it if you came with me" the faunus said with a smirk. 

"What are you up to Roman? Whatever it is I don't approve of it" 

"I know you don't, but I would appreciate it if you came with me, I don't want you to get hurt"  

"If your that worried, perhaps I should" the kindly old man said taking his faunus' hand allowing the fox with a fluffy tail to lead him out of his building "just give me a minute to lock up the old shop and then you can take me wherever you wanted to take me" 

"Take all the time you need" the faunus sighed, playing with the rim of his hat, swishing his tail in the cool air as dusk set in on the horizon, taking the late shoppers by surprise. 

"You've been a good friend Roman, but i can't help but wonder what has gotten you so worked up, is it that young wolf that you told me about?" 

"No, it's not, it's some other friends of mine who are up to some things that I don't want you involved in, you've done a lot of good things for people"

"I understand" the kindly old man sighed, using a cane very similar to his faunus to help him walk, although only one of them had real trouble walking, and it wasn't the human. "In all the years we've been together, you've not once done something you haven't thought was for my own good" 

" atleast you still have faith in me" the fox sighed patting his owner's arm, leading him down a maze of alleyways until they reached the dog house's front entrance. A small door hidden in the shadows of an office building, with one of the only human workers leaning against the wall. 

"Tortwick, is this the guy?" He asked 

"Yeah" 

"Hold him still" he ordered taking out a very real gun pointing it at kindly old man, almost giving the elderly man a heart attack.

"No no he's the other guy" 

"Ah sorry about that, I'm Fred, I'll be the one who will be smuggling you today" 

"No, he's the other other guy" 

"Ohhhh, I'm Gregory, I'm a friend of your faunus" he introduced holding his hand out to kindly old man who didn't take it since he was in a state of shock "come on, let's talk this out over some nice afternoon tea" 

"What about Roman?" He asked being lead inside the building, looking back to the fox standing in the doorway, watching him being pushed into the darkness.

"He has to get someone else before something bad happens, come along sir" Gregory said pushing the old man further into the building. "You'll be just fine" 

"I really wish I didn't have to do this" Tortwick sighed. 

"You didn't have to do anything, you just care too much about your human" the snake hissed, her tongue flickering. 

"And what about your order to get the pup?" 

"She's grown on me, and you too, but don't just stand here! Go get her! The plan is almost in motion, and those hunters will pay, if you don't act quickly she will be caught up in too much violence." 

"Fine I'm going" he sighed, pulling his coat close around him as snow began to fall for the second time today, this plan has had him running all over Vale for far too long, but in the end, it's a good thing he's vaccinated. 

He just thinks that he could hopefully catch an airship before the snow gets too bad. Get all this over with. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Faunus use a range of different actions to spread pheromones, usually they spread it on their belongings, practically impossible for humans to detect but particularly pungent to other faunus. Though after sterilization faunus tend to loose their ability to produce pheromones and they become frantic to try and mark their territory. The behaviour will calm down, but it can be highly stressful for the faunus.


	23. Fantastic Mr Foxy

Roman Tortwick was officially done with this whole operation, he's been skulking around all night operating on one hour of sleep which he got three days ago and before you ask, no the faunus body is not supposed to work like that. And he still hasn't collected all the people that he needed to collect, sure the first two where relatively easy, one of them lived in the same building as he did, another was a frail old man who moved at the pace as a turtle. Sure there was only two people left but still, only one of them was truly worth it. 

He had a few options now, he could one go get the boy first, deliver him, get some much needed sleep and then go get the other, or he could go get the girl wrestle with a load of birds not get sleep and then get the boy. 

Obviously he's going to do the first one. He's had so little sleep he can taste dancing and hear colour none of which are a good thing. And also the fact that he hasn't changed his clothes in about two weeks, the plan can wait three days for him to collect the last person that should have been safe in the first place. 

Gods cinder is going to burst a blood vessel when he gets back. 

* * *

 "AAAAAA" 

"Yes, Aaaa" 

"It hurts!" 

"I know it hurts" 

"My legs!" 

"Yes I know your legs" Roman growled dragging half of a screaming boy behind him, the other half was stuck in a door way for the pound owners to find in the morning. Turns out Gillitean doors can actually work as Gilliteans, which is a weird thing to have at a pound but meh, most of the faunus in that place where spooked and looking for a way out. 

"AAAA" this boy screamed again, wriggling about pathetically, well he did have his legs sliced off and is bleeding everywhere. But he'll live, you know, probably. 

"You know you could scream just a little louder, and then wake up the whole city" Roman growled, this was totally not how he expected this to go, and sure dragging a screaming bleeding dieing young faunus boy on very little sleep isn't very likely in the first place. How would he have known that those doors could do this? He's just a faunus. "Ugh" this particular foxy faunus groaned, he was not liking this no sleep thing. 

"Hey! You two stop!" A police officer shouted leading to Roman to suddenly jump into action, hooking his hands under the boy's arms properly and to start running. "Stop!" 

"Use this and aim for the knees" the fox faunus said passing his usless man nugget of a back ache his cain. 

"Use wha?" He asked very confused, and completely surprised when the bottom popped open. 

"Can you control your Aura boy?" 

"N-no" 

"Useless" the fox sighed leaping onto a roof watching the police officer bang his stick against the rain pipe, grumbling a few minutes later before wandering off. They where just bunch of faunus who got into a fight after all, or atleast that's what the officer thought they where. All thanks to Roman's semblance. "Now I definitely need to sleep" 

"Bleeding out here" the boy groaned beginning to feel woozy. 

"Shut up you salamander, they'll grow back" the fox faunus groaned, this was also the reason why he was not worried about the boy he was dragging about. 

"I'm still bleeding" 

"Yes everyone is aware" 

"If I lose too much blood I will die!" 

"You'll be fine" Tortwick scoffed, eventually reaching the dog house greeted by a very unhappy Cinder. 

"What!-" 

"Before you say anything, I'm going to pass out" the exhausted faunus sighed stumbling forward and falling flat at the snake's feet gaining her frustration. 

But a guy's gotta get his sleep somehow. 

* * *

"Ungrateful bitch" the fox sighed waking up from his much needed rest he unwrapped his long fluffy tail from where it was around his body before stretching out. He did feel a lot better after his... 15 hour sleep, which wasn't all that unusual, he was a fox, naturally nocturnal. But what wasn't normal was the fluffy thing underneath his hand it was about the same size as his hand, apon lifting it up he found out he was actually holding a small toy Grimm. 

Something he didn't own. 

"Your awake, great"a very annoyed Cinder asked, her eyes slipping from the rest of the room and onto Roman in a dangerous unblinking stare that bore into his head, clamping his brain in her venomous bite. snake faunus where just plain creepy. "there's been a change of plans, you get a few days rest, the forth person delivered herself luckily for you" the snake hissed her tongue flickering from a small scaly hole between her lips, just big enough for the black forked tongue to slither out and taste the air. 

"and you came all this way just to tell me that? I'm flattered" the fox grunted, wiping the sleep from his face, he had just woken up after all, woken up from one of if not the most satisfying sleep in his whole life.

"no, I came to make sure number four didn't wake you Tortwick, be glad that I have given you this mercy" she huffed making the fox look at her confused until he felt movement at the end of his bed, there curled up under a damp towel was a very small wolf faunus, wrapped in her own tail much like Roman was a mere five minutes before. "she was found out in the rain looking like a drowned rat, her owner must have thrown her out" 

"I thought you ate rats?" the fox smirked just as that uncomfortable gaze focused on him once again

"not all rats, make sure she doesn't succumb to her illness, we are still treating number three that you mangled" she hissed standing up with a little difficulty before then leaving the fox to look at his surprise guest. she didn't look in good shape, he wasn't quite sure what happened to her and he wasn't taking cinder's answer as truth, but for now he guessed he would just welcome her back like she never left, she did live here at one point.

"little puppy, just what did you get yourself into?" the fox sighed pushing his blanket off himself and draping it over the sleeping girl, sure it was about midnight and Roman was only just waking up, but for him being nocturnal, wolves are certainly diurnal, she should be fast asleep tucked up into bed wearing her warm pyjamas, cuddled up to a radiator at this time of night. not shivering at the end of his bed as far as he knows naked with a sopping wet tail and a dipping ears and hair. he just looked around his cluttered room laying out a towel in the middle of his own black sheeted bed, impeccably slowly shuffling the tiny girl onto it so he could at least attempt to warm her tiny body up. 

the fox ruffled around his room trying to retrieve everything he could that belonged to the girl and that he had hidden away after her disappearance, it was a good thing he didn't throw much away, mainly so he could remember the girl he thought was dead, it's a good thing he was wrong.  

though after a good twenty minutes of hard work he had done all that he could have done for this girl, she had her toy a hot water bottle pressed up against her stomach, her shoes pulled off, her scarf hung up to dry and her head covered in a warm cloth that was not covering her face, that would be dangerous. he's officially done all that he could, even still she was shivering and sniffling, but she didn't deserve this, thrown into the world with no preparation, a mangled mess of a faunus. " what have you done to yourself?" the fox asked, not really expecting an answer, and he was right not to expect, he didn't get one, but he would have liked one, just to reassure him that she was ok.

he could do with laying out a bowl, he knew this girl rather well, and a well known fact about her is that she struggled to mugs and glasses, only drinking out of bowls that had to be rather shallow so she could lick the bottom. he understood it, when he was her age he didn't use cups either, he hated those things they hurt his tongue, but when he got older he dealt with it and drank water like a human, she simply hasn't reached that stage. she was worth all the effort, she was one of the last pure people in this world, she was someone that even someone like a devious fox could find solace in, she brought a purity wherever she stepped, something that must be protected. 

"fluffy little thing" he scoffed scratching behind her ear just how he liked to be scratched behind his own ear, she seemed to appreciate the little scratches, shuffling in her sleep before resting back into a hopefully comfortable slumber. he really did like this little creature, she was just a joy to be around. 

The fox really didn't know quite what to do about everything, he supposed  that he could just go with everything, and by the end of the week half the faunus population in Vale will-

*crash*

"stupid window" Roman growled slamming the only window he had closed after it sprang free from it's lock, showering snow flakes onto his pillow from the storm outside.

* * *

some people may ask what a criminal does when he's not running around causing trouble, turns out they sit around eating pumpkin peat marshmallow flakes, watching documentaries about the grand corvid clan while sitting in their underwear. this is exactly what Roman was doing, sitting around swishing his tail as dawn slowly came around, he loved being a favourite all the perks he got, like a Tv and branded cereal. he was nothing like Cinder, cold blooded snake possessed a climate control palace the Schnees could live in.

he was happy with his room though, he was used to living in cramped spaces, probably because he's a fox and foxes live in cramped burrows, so it felt... homely. "Mr Foxy?" a very small sleepy voice asked.

"hey little squeak" he quickly answered looking over the back of his roughed up sofa, he probably shouldn't be around a young girl in nothing but his underwear and a shirt, but he hasn't rested in three days so shut up. "you doin' ok?" he asked watching the flushed blanket monster shuffling over, he scowled after he noted that her ears where completely flat against her head. 

"hurts" she mumbled wiggling close to the fox, wrapped in the duvet she stole off the criminal's bed. "can I stay?"

"of course you can" the fox answered curling his tail around the lethargic girl "tell me if you want to throw up, you look a bit ill" 

"I hurt" she mumbled yawning loudly. 

"I know you hurt, but can you tell me what happened?" 

"I ran, they where being mean"

"who where mean?"

"people" 

"humans?"

she didn't answer verbally she just nuzzled into his arm nodding slightly "they did something"

"something? like what?" he asked surprised, watching as she pointed at her abdomen, pulling the blanket away to show two fresh pink scars both of the resembling lines of stitches "oh"  
  
"they did it and now I feel weird" she whined, curling her tail, "Weiss did it and she was being really mean, why did she do it?" she whimpered pleadingly looking up at the fox who was still trying to comprehend what happed to the little girl snuggled up to his arm, she obviously didn't know, he did, and all too many faunus have had it done to them with out their permission. 

it messes with faunus' instincts, effects their thoughts in some cases they completely forget who they where, they loose almost all free will of themselves and just become puppets devoted to their human and only their human. he didn't want this girl to turn into a zombie, and it might not happen if she doesn't go back to that white haired human of her's, and considering she's in such a mess now, he didn't think she would. "I don't know why she did it, but you'll be ok" he reassured, scratching her scalp, watching her practically purr and wiggle closer to him. the neat wounds have already healed, it must have took a while for Ruby to realise that her feeling weird was connected to what must have been a weird sudden and rather random situation that happened a few weeks, or possibly months ago. 

"it was scary when they did it, they put me in a box, I couldn't move I didn't like being in that box"

"I don't think anyone would like to be shoved in a box" 

"I was in a box and then I was on a table with a really mean man who stabbed me, I woke up in bed and I still couldn't move and everything hurt"

"they just haven't been very nice to you have they?" the fox faunus sighed spooning the last of his soggy cereal into his mouth "want something to eat?"

"eat?"

"food"

"yeah"

"sure?"

"yeah" 

"water"

"thanks" she mumbled using the bowl for what it was put out for while Roman moved around the room with great haste to cater for the girl that's obviously sick. She just looked so depressed, and rightly so, her life for the last three months has just crumbled apart. Even Roman thought she had a good life there, it's saddening to see her so...out of it, done with everything. 

"Do you want a banana?" The fox asked, hearing her grunt from across the room "I'll take that as a yes, they're good for you" 

"Sure" she grumbled yawning again, Tortwick wasn't one hundred percent sure how long she's been asleep, but he knew it was longer then 8 hours, since dawn is only just been set apon them and she was asleep when he woke up at midnight. She should not be tired, but then again she looks like she’s been possessed by a daemon, perhaps the daemon will be forced out with a healthy diet, mid-day naps and and possibly a none aggressive exorcism. 

“You need your potassium” the Fox said with rolled eyes, getting a rather strange look from the swaddled girl. “Just eat the banana” he huffed thrusting the fruit to her. 

“They’re gross” she scowled taking the toast leaving the banana. 

“They are not gross, if it was gross it wouldn’t be good for you” 

“they are gross so it’s bad” she growled sticking out her tongue in a very childish gesture, which did reassure Roman about her mental state, slightly. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he can only have so much. 

The fox just sighed, he usually didn’t have the patients for this kind of complaining, he may be a murderer and a flull on fluffy terrorist but he had morals, he wouldn’t shout at a child if he didn’t have to, it’s where he drew the line , Well that and the elderly. But this little girl knew how to push his buttons even if she wasnt doing it unintentionally. “Eat the banana” he ordered with a stern voice, shoving the fruit in her face when he sat down. 

“No it’s gross” she again complained, thurrowly confused when Torchwick pushed her away while she attempted to snuggle up to him. 

“Eat the banana or your not getting any toast” he scowled snatching the toast off her, watching her become frustrated, her face twisting into something that initially could have been scary if she didn’t look so cute while doing it. "Eat it" he demanded again, smushing the fruit against her lips in some attempt to get her to eat it. 

"No-" she complained being stopped when the banana was shoved into open her maw, as soon as she opened it. "Fine" she grumbled finally taking the fruit while the fox threw his arms up in victory. 

"That wasn't that hard" the foxy faunus sighed in relief, rubbing the back of her head satisfied when she quickly gobbled it down wanting her toast back. "Having a good breakfast will make you feel better, rember that" he instructed leaving her to munch on the banana skin like some kind of goat faunus but she was compelled to do it. 

All faunus know it's a relatively good idea to follow whatever they're instincts told them, and the skin of the banana had a lot of minerals in it that she probably needs. Although it looks a bit weird and she obviously doesn’t like the taste, but whatever, she is a growing girl after all. 

“Are you planning to put some clothes on at any point today?” The fox asked, pulling out his laptop. 

“You’re in your underwear” she grumbled, pulling her blanket closer. 

“Touché, but at least I’m not walking around showing my backside to everyone” 

“I’m not!” 

“I’m joking squeak, but seriously, go put something on” 

“fine” she grumbled plodding off to get changed. 

“Children, seriously” he groaned swishing his fluffy tail a little while he stared into his own reflection “I might as well get dressed myself” 

* * *

~“there was a fire at down town vale today, it was believed to be caused by the owner of the building’s Faunus who was spotted by cctv cameras planting volitle dust canisters around the building, further investigation will be taken place but there is 30 confirmed casualties, and many injured. The Faunus will be prossesed later tod-”~

“Don’t think you need to be watching that” the Fox Faunus interrupted, changing the channel relatively quickly, leaning over the back of the sofa “you need to eat soon, I know you still don’t feel well but nobody needs you getting any thinner then you already are” 

“I’m not hungry” she mumbled, locked in a mindless gaze with the cartoon bouncing across the Tv screen, her tail occasionally thumping against the soft fabric she sat on, wearing warm woolen pyjamas with a red blanket wrapped around her shoulders, cascading down to pool around her.

“Your sick, you threw up two hours ago, of course your not hungry. But I’ll get you whatever you want if you promise you’ll eat it” 

“anything?”

“anything, you look like a stick with ears” he sighed brushing her hair away from her face as she leaned onto his hand. Wanting the warmth it provided, it was winter after all. “How about some pizza?” 

“Pepperoni and ham?” 

“Sure I did say whatever you wanted” he smirked, rubbing her ears, watching her tongue lick the air in satisfaction “I’ll be back, don’t leave the room, there’s ice cream in the fridge”

That got her attention, her head snapping to the fridge, leaving Roman to slip out the door with Ruby sufficiently distracted. He was willing to let her gorge herself, she was incredibly thin, she’s supposed to be pudgy with puppy fat not frail like a leaf and as thin as that twig the leaf is hanging on to. 

Though the Fox Faunus had more then one reason why he didn’t want her to leave the room, one was because she was sick and struggled to stand up for more then two minutes, two she’s as shaky as a piston engine and nocks herself over with her own trembling, three the strong scent of alcohol floating about from the main room downstairs. 

Sure he was twenty six, in his prime by human standards, a corpse walking by Faunus, he should be drinking his head off at this time of night aka 8pm, but he’s also a species of dog Faunus, and he starts getting intoxicated by just smelling alcohol. Which was the reason why he had to focuse in order to walk in a straight line.

”hey!” Number one shouted storming over to the Fox who huffed, swishing his tail in slight frustration as this green haired... thing, approached. “You can drink your hat off later we need to talk to you” 

“we?” He questioned “I need to get food” he declared pushing her off him “and I don’t drink” 

no he really didn’t, one glass of shandy and he would have alcohol poisoning. 

“That isn’t very believable” number one huffed pulling him towards the main room, where there where no children what so ever. 

“Just let me order something, otherwise the young one will starve” 

“you have a kid?” The green haired woman asked shocked 

“no no, of course not, she might as well be, just she’s sick and needs to eat” yeah he sometimes hates being a Faunus, sure he could deal with human ignoring him, he can deal with the abuse, he can even deal with humans pushing him around, but he can’t deal with just sniffing a alcoholic drink and becoming a practically immobile drunk. “She’s too old to be any kid I could have” 

“Who are you even talking about?”

”number four” was all he answered flagging down one of the many rabbit Faunus rushing about, the girl darted up the stairs up to quickly jot down his order and sprint away coming back with just a glass of orange juice. 

“I thought you would have wanted something other then that” she scoffed crossing her arms frustrated.

”I would die if I drink alcohol” he grumbled, sucking on his own drink though a straw. “It’s the reason why I have the decency to stop a thirteen year old from wandering around here” 

“ your a murderer grow some balls, why do you want us here?”

“Personally i don’t care if you stay here or not, but big girl Cinder wants you two and number four for some reason. I don’t know why but she doesn’t want you to die, there’s only really two of you I care about” 

“You don’t care?” 

“Not at all, you can get shot though the head and I wouldn’t bat an eye, as I said the boss wants you not me, I was just the guy who got you two here... most of you” he said motioning at the annoyed salamander stuck sitting there to glare at him while he talked “be grateful you slimy prick they where going to kill you anyway!” 

“Your cut off my legs! You knew that door was coming down and you just stood there!” He shouted evidently annoyed.

”You can grow them back” Roman grumbled, still sucking on his orange juice like some kind of child, this was more of something that Ruby would do, not a grown man. 

“It still will take three weeks!” He growled, slamming his hand down on the table, purely for dramatic affect, since his hand landed with not a thump but with a wet splat, he is a salamander after all.

” As pleasant as it is to talk to you, I have other things to do” the Fox growled just as the rabbit with Ruby’s dinner cam speeding over, leaving him to saunter off followed by the annoyed Faunus that he dragged here. “I really don’t know why your following me, you will be grateful in a few days~” he sang wobbling on his feet like an old man. 

“Your a drunken man stumbling around, I’m doing you a favour” the green haired dark skinned girl growled, grabbing his arm and steadying him. 

“I’m technically not drunk, I’ve only drank orange juice” he grumbled shrugging her hand off as he opened his door, feeling a rather happy little Faunus girl smash into his chest. 

“You sleep with a child!” The obviously mistralian girl shouted, disgusted with Roman’s friendship. 

“Put a sock in it” he growled, pushing her out the door and slamming it in her face as he returned the forced hug. “Aww squeak you got ice cream on me!” He sighed, looking at the vinnially sugary wet patch on his shirt where his young friend had put her mouth. “I don’t know if you feel better or are just hyper on sugar” 

“pizza!” She squealed speeding around the room, for all of two minutes before she became dizzy, stumbled, tripped, and needed the Fox to catch her. 

”I’m going with the last one” he smirked helping her back to her nest of blankets on the sofa. “I bring the gift of food, please eat it, I can assure you it’s not poisoned”

”I can tell” she chirped her tail wagging heavily the loud thumping of her tail against the chair ringing though the room, all in time for her maid- I mean friend! Yeah friend... sliced up her food.

“Eat” he declared shoving the plate in front of her as he plopped down next to her, slinging a arm around her shoulders as she ate. “And then bedtime, even I need to sleep” he fake yawned, sure he’s been awake for 20 hours but he’s a Fox, as soon as the sun goes down all fatigue disappears, but he will sleep just to get her to sleep. 

“Fine” she grumbled pushing her dirty plate onto the coffee table, wandering away around the corner created by the bathroom.

”brush your teeth!” He shouted hearing her muffled response, This day has been fun, he spent the whole time curled up on the sofa watching nature documentaries, and cleaning out Young pup’s sick bucket. She was nice company, which is better then anyone else Roman knew, she didn’t talk much, she liked cuddles, and.. that’s it. all desirable qualities in the fox’s mind.

 Speaking about cuddles, Roman hasn’t got enough for one day he decided to rectify this by laying down in his bed, in seconds he had a puppy curling up on his stomach, licking the underside of his chin in her own way of saying goodnight.

He was no wolf but he knew what it meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over twenty years ago there was a ban on importing venomous Faunus into Vale, over 20,000 Faunus have been exterminated due to the ban.


	24. cast aside, forgotten, and then reborn.

* * *

**Warning this chapter contains _graphic descriptions of violence_ , _human and Faunus excrement_ and _minimal fluffy tails_ that may be distressing, I have marked the spots that can be avoided with a 🐊 because why not. **

**You have been warned**

* * *

“Ruby!” 

“Ruby!” 

“Ruby this isn’t funny anymore!” Weiss shouted, scowering the school grounds, she had no idea where her Faunus had gone, she’s missed lunch breakfast and dinner, that’s not normal for Ruby. 

“Hey don’t worry Weiss I’m sure Ruby will show up sometime” yang sighed, tapping away at her scroll “she’ll probably get hungry and come back”

“but she’s been gone for three days, and so has Blake! Jaune said that Pyrrah has gone too” Weiss huffed, rubbing her arm with worry. “I knew she was upset about being sterilised, but I didn’t think she would be this upset”

“Wait you told Ruby about the operation? No wonder she was so upset!” Yang exclaimed “Faunus get super sensitive about that stuff, and she’s been ‘feeling weird’ for a while” 

“I thought she would be fine after I explained it to her, I guess not. But it isn’t like she can get into the city” Weiss huffed, looking at the tall imposing gate that separated Beacon Academy from the rest of vale

”sure, I think she could slip through though” Yang then spoke up taking note of the rather large gap at the bottom of the gate. “But it’s not like she has any reason to go into Vale, you saved her from the streets” 

“Actually she knows one person, a Fox Faunus who I’m not quite sure what to think of” Weiss declared stroking her chin like it was a wispy beard that she didn’t posses but thought it would look cool right now. 

It wouldnt

”a Fox Faunus? Those guys are hard to find, their nocturnal” Yang said sharing her very limited knowledge on Faunus, which didn’t help Weiss since she already knew that. 

“Well unfortunately she’s particularly good friends with him so she might have gone there. Don’t know about the others though”

”it seems like every Faunus in Beacon has disappeared” Yang mumbles using her scroll to open the gate for her and Weiss to slip though “come on let’s go find your rabbid wolverine of a Faunus” 

“she’s not rabbid! If you actually got to know her you would see that she’s actually quite sweet, she hasn’t bit anyone since the operation” 

“but she has bit before, and it bloody hurts!” 

“She’s a puppy, of course she’s just a bit nippy every once and a while” 

“I can understand a nip every once and a while, but she malls people!” 

“I just hope she’s ok, she is pretty frail” 

“she’s not frai-

* * *

Meanwhile on the opposite side of Vale

“Roman Torchwick you shall pay! Pay for what you have done! Wua ha ha ha!” 

“You fiend! Your rule ends here!”

”You two are way to into this game” this green haired person groaned, nobody really knew what Faunus she was, just that she smells like Faunus. 

“Hey I didn’t pick it” the Fox said throwing his hands up in defence. 

“I can understand her but not you” Emerald growled, motioning to a rather happy Ruby sorting though her cards. 

“It’s a good game” 

“it’s a confusing game” she growled squinting at her cards. 

“Your just saying that because your loosing” the Fox snarked being hit over the head with an umbrella “ow! What was that for?” He growled but the culprit of his bruised head just flicked her duel coloured ears.

“Ah! Atlas battleship! I get your air fleet and two of your dust mines!” Ruby chirped, really liking this game because she’s winning. 

“Sure sure how are you so good at this?” Roman asked tossing the cards over to the thirteen year old girl with a mass of power. 

“Because you don’t know what accumulate means” she chirped waiting for the other Fox at the table to play a card. 

This lovely lady was called Neopolitan Torchwick she was only a few years older then her brother and lived in mystral in charge of phase two, but came to vale to help with phase one taking place just downstairs. 

She was a rather strange girl, one half of all hair and fur on her body was brown and the other pink, including one white eye that lacked the shimmer Ruby’s did to make it silver. her tail was shorter then her brother’s and her ears where shorter, one of them mangled, on top of all that she was nowhere near as fluffy.

that was something Ruby was greatly upset about when she met her good friend’s sister. 

Oh! She also can’t talk, probably should have said that earlier. 

*slap* the almost mute proudly slammed down one of her cards down on the table staring at her ginger brother who groaned again, throwing two cards at her. 

“I hate this game” he growled 

“only because you're loosing” Ruby smirked 

“you two are ganging up on me!” He huffed restoring one of his dust mines, but because he’s mystral he only gets a minimal bonus. 

“Grow up” Emerald growled putting down a card herself. 

*Bang!* 

“what’s going on down there?” Roman growled putting his cards down and running down the hall as his sister followed behind “Ruby, stay” he ordered abusing her undivided loyalty and her owners highly successful training regiment. 

“Ruby, come” Emerald then ordered, running after the pair of foxes with the tiny wolf galloping after her. 

“Ruby stay!” 

“Ruby come!” 

“Ruby!” A different voice shouted calling the tiny wolf to tumble down the stairs leading to the main room full of Faunus pushing other Faunus. Though only one particular faunus attracted the girl’s attention. 

“Blake!” the wolf Faunus cried out pushing the two crocodiles holding her friends away, the cat Faunus was frantically wriggling about, her claws ready to pull out anyone’s eyes

“This is why I told her to stay” Torchwick growled hooking his arm around her small body and pulling her away from the struggling Faunus “she actually knows some of these guys” he huffed trying to control her struggling that is until his older sister tapped his arm with the handle of her parasol. 

two minutes of her whispering scratchy and almost inaudible words into his ear, lots of things about Menagerie and politics, basically all boiled down to “don’t turn the cat girl into a rabbid cannibal” 

“you, come” he growled pulling the Faunus that the squirming thirteen year old he was barely containing was apparently friends with out of the crowd. But after a few more minutes of squirming in the Fox’s grip, Ruby promptly and very suddenly exploded 

* * *

“you sure this is the right way?” 

 “I’m sure this is the right way” 

“this seems like the place you would like to be murdered and raped in” Yang absently commented, following Weiss at a calm pace. 

“Not in that order though right?” Weiss asked, making the blonde think. 

“Depends if they have that kink” she shrugged. 

“No I had my step tracker on when Ruby lead me down to where her friend lives” Weiss said, showing the blonde the very erratic and unpredictable path her Faunus took recorded by her scroll “she had no sense of direction ” 

“that girl has some problems, she reminds me of one of those shaky rat dogs sometimes” 

“She does not” Weiss huffed 

“Isn’t she microchipped?” Yang then asked 

“she is but I can’t track her, if she get picked up by the pound they know she’s mine and have my contacts to get her back to me” the heiress sighed “thing is she’s been dodging the pound for years” 

“maybe she’ll get picked up?” Yang suggested trying to boost her friend’s hope. 

“We can only pray, but I think she’s... this way, she really did take a lot of unnecessary turns”

” place probably stinks of pheromones, might be how she found it, I watched this documentary about Faunus and how they use them to meet up with each other after long periods of time” 

“she did only remember this place when we got to the entrance, probably smelled all the... markings” The Schnee said with disgust, looking to the pee stains from Faunus and homeless on the walls. 

“That’s what I just said!” The blonde groaned jumping out of her own skin when something crashed in the background. 

“You jumped” Weiss sniggered, being hit over the head by her friend, but after a few more seconds of walking through the grimy alleyway they both froze hearing the patter of bear feet.

”what was that?” Yang asked

”I have no idea” Weiss quickly answered watching the blonde near where the sound came from 

“dove! You flying rat! You scared me!” The blonde shouted quickly identifying the bird Faunus at the end of the alleyway. The bird Faunus struggled to open his wings, one of them crooked being dragged along the floor, staining his white feathers a grimy brown gray and yellow. “Oh Weiss! It’s just Dove he hurt himself!” 

“Got it!” The heiress shouted back the two humans slowly approached the struggling Faunus, sure he was the Faunus of one of their worst enemys but he wasn’t as bad as his owner. He had always been quite nice... 

🐊

well that’s until he lashed out at Yang, whacking her to the ground with his ‘broken’ wing. “Hey!” The blonde shouted trying to push herself up but his claws speared into her back, the sharp dagger like points quickly split though the layers of her skin. 

Blood seeped down onto the hard urin covered floor, Dove let out a inhuman shreak, dripping foam onto the blonde’s head, the young adult screaming at the top of her lungs, thrashing around under his grip, but it only incoraged him to grip down, his talons splitting her flesh and muscle as he attempted to stop her struggles. 

Eyes filled with unplaced rage, the need for blood, razor sharp teeth, and a bite. 

A single piercing bite placed on Yang’s flailing bicep, his jaw slammed together with a wet crunch, the Faunus drooled with hunger pulling his head up as he threw the limb in the air releasing the human from his talons he moved off hunching down on all fours shearing off muscle with every bite, breaking bone with every movement, the mixture of fat ligiments skin muscle and bone being slowly consumed by this once trusted Faunus. 

Weiss just stood in shock, watching her friend become limp from possibly blood loss laying there in a puddle of liquid human and Faunus excrement and her own fluids. 

Weiss struggled to escape the spot she was rooted to, but she knew she had to move. With more willpower then she has ever displayed she sprinted over to her friend, Dove shrieked at her for touching his pray, flapping his red wings splattering Weiss’ face with the iron rich fluid, almost making the heiress puke. 

The white haired girl pulled Yang by her shirt across the floor, her hands shaking struggling to get grip, but she took too long Dove pounced smashing her against the concrete, white foam dripping on her face as she stared up at his bloodshot green eyes, his crazed gaze fixed on her as he threw his head down to do to her what he did to Yang. 

🐊

* * *

The rose petals floating around this room betrayed the atmosphere, it was silent, agonisingly silent. Everyone in the room had been shoved to the walls, only Ruby remained in the centre confused, slightly scared, and a little frustrated. She didn’t mean to hurt anyone, she just wanted them to stop, but everyone didn’t get up, and it scared her.

”Blake?” She asked, carefully approaching the cat Faunus pawing at her limp furry rope of a tail.

The little wolf was very confused, she didn’t mean to hurt anyone, she just wanted them to stop! She didn’t even mean to exspode! She just wanted her friend to be safe! 

“Blake?” Ruby asked again, treading lightly as she clambered up to the unconscious cat. 

“Blake?”

”Blake?”

”Blakey?”

”Blake!”

”Blake!”

”Blake?!” 

*squish* 

“arg! Why did you poke me in the eye?!” The cat Faunus shouted throwing Ruby off herself while she cupped her eye. 

“You wouldn’t wake up” she pouted pushing on the Faunus’ shoulder “come on!” She said with a wagging tail, pulling on the cat fauna tail.

”that’s not something you should HOLD!” Blake yelped hissing at the wolf as she was pulled up the stairs backwards. “I’ll follow you! Just stop biting my tail!” 

“Mu cufant tumch tap champs” which was her muffled reply that may or may not have been ‘I can’t take that chance’ but also had an equal chance to have been ‘I can’t tap dance’ or perhaps ‘I can eat pants’ this was Ruby where talking about. She did spend most of her life learning language from a giant bird who didnt like to talk a lot. 

But we can confidently say that Blake interpreted the last one which exsplained the strange look she gave the wolf who was pulling her left and right, up and down, pretty much turning into an interdementonal god intent on the sole purpose to torture Blake’s tail with sharp crushing teeth and a surprisingly peppy attitude. Of course Ruby didn’t really mean this, but it was what she was doing.

“Hey!”

Ruby squeaked attempting to run faster, but she fell flat on her stomach, signalling for Blake to come to a rolling stop. “Hey, come on don’t do that” the Fox Faunus sighed quickly coming up to the two. “We weren’t going to do anything to your friend, you don’t need to run” 

“you were going to do something” Ruby mumbled with a pout, pushing herself up “it was going to be bad! I know it was!” 

“Ruby, maybe we were but we aren’t going to now, she’s right there and she’s fine. How about we go sit down, eat some pumpkin peat and watch whatever you like?” 

“But what about the other guys down there, are bad things going to happen to them too?” 

“ I can’t tell you that, you know I can’t. But don’t let them bother you, what did they do for you which would make you care about them? Weren't you telling me about how they all chased you? How they pulled your ears? pulled out your fur? They where the ones who shoved you in that box and you want to help them?” 

“But Blake never did that, she was always nice! She shared her biscuits with me! Why would you do something to her?” 

“Because we didn’t know she was your friend until now, and nice people have nice things happen to them, and your a good girl, and good girls get good things, so let’s eat marshmallows” 

“yay marshmallows!” Ruby cheered while Blake recovered from her concussion, carefully following after the wolf. 

Romen himself was just tiered, this whole operation had taken four years to get to this point, and with the bangs of the door being slammed open releasing new reborn Faunus into the world, he could only ask if all this work, all the sacrifice, was really worth the outcome. 

* * *

 

🐊

Weiss, Weiss Schnee, was at a loss, pinned to the floor her intestines spilled out besides her like a gory rope that lost its connection, watching as a Faunus she once trusted tore flesh off bone in front of her very eyes. The very flesh he was eating belonged to none other then her longest friend at beacon, left in a blonde helpless heap screaming and crying out in pain. 

They weren’t dead, that’s for sure, they where both very much alive, which was what made this whole process of death more agonising. 

Humans don’t die as quickly as Faunus

but just as Weiss was about to give up rescue came to help, in the form of a dusty anti social rodent and his peppy owner who was currently chasing the tainted Faunus away with her giant hammer. 

This left a lot of time to Weiss as the sky she stared at in a daze turned into the gray of an ambulance roof, the purple of apocalypse, and the white of hospital. Pushed away down the halls, wheeled around by the best doctors money can buy. Her daze didn’t last much longer, bearly registering what this lady was saying as something was pressed against her face suffocating her turning a dazzling light into a dark abyss. And then finally 

nothing 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pumpkin peat Cereal flakes are in no way responsible for any of the following if your Faunus consumes pumpkin peat cereal flakes. 1: spontaneous combustion 2:sudden insanity 3:the growth of new limbs 4: development of new lactating nipples 5: development of nipples 6: hyperactivity 7: poor life choices 8: WiFi loss 9: loosing a girlfriend you really liked but suddenly found out she practiced necrophilia and she left you for a 800 year old skeleton named George even though you were willing to “work with it” 10: instant bouts of turning into woodland creatures and waking up in a zoo naked 11: becoming a vector for snout rot 12: burning a turkey 
> 
> Thank you for reading pumpkin peat cereal flakes terms and conditions.
> 
> Note- pumpkin peat cereal flakes are not fit for human consumption, Faunus under the age of 9 are not recommended for consuming pumpkin peat cereal flakes. 
> 
> Have a nice day.


	25. Amber eyes and a golden mirror

~” Weiss Schnee was found late last night in downtown vale along with another hunter in training, Yang Xiao Long, the two teens had been mutated by a suspected Grimm, both of them are expected to make an recovery from their injuries thankfully by the intervention of another hunter in training Nora Valkyrie and her Faunus who performed emergency first aid on scene that lead to these two girls survival.”~ 

Ruby wasn’t quite sure what she was listening to, but soon enough Roman a relatively happy person swooped over and switched the radio onto some pop tunes. Filling the room with gawks at his bad dancing skills. 

“Don’t give me that look squeak, I’m happy! We’re going to mystral, don’t you think it’s fun?” He asked gathering assental items from the makeshift kitchen, working in tandem with his tail, opening and ratreathing items with his hands closing with his tail and a fancy spin.

“Yeah but you look silly like that” the wolf pouted, snuggled up in the corner of the sofa in her rapidly shrinking nest as all the blankets and what nots she has collected over the past two days where packed up into bags. 

“Your the silly one, now are you going to help or go back to what you where doing?” 

“Can’t I just keep on criticising you?” She asked hopefully.

”nope you had two options, both didn’t include insults”

”mean” she mumbled returning back to the cartoons flashing across the screen. Blake curled up next to her, fast asleep, holding the puppy’s legs down practically immovablising her. 

“I’m not mean I just don’t want you to start shouting bad words at the top of your lungs” 

“that means your mean!” 

“Oh sush” the Fox sighed with rolled eyes, they really needed to leave the city particularly soon, especially with the curtain package they picked up and needed to be delivered in order to seal a rocky relationship with the biggest military power in remnant that was still growing. 

Sure he was kinda hyjacking his sister’s life’s work but he was stuck in the middle being one of the only people in this hole operation that one particular little girl trusted enough to curl up on his chest and go to sleep. 

The girl had some strength about her, especially considering she was important to the plan. 

This whent so much farther then young Faunus being snatched in the night. This was 5000 years of “domestication” Faunus being used for their aura and treated like lowly animals. 

* * *

 Mystral, more specifically just off the southern coast of mystral lay a very small island, made up almost entirely out of deasert, but the other third of the island was an oasis of vibrant colours exotic animals and Faunus. 

Millions of Faunus.

mystral holds the last remaining Faunus colony, the last section of the grand Faunus empire left over from the battle of fortcasle that Faunus ultimately lost since someone remembered last second they had night vision. Mystral was it’s own country, 90% of the human population on Remnant don’t know it exists and the other 10% know not to go there if you don’t want to be a sacrifice to some primitive god that may or may not exist. 

Mystral was far different then what humans thought it was. 

Faunus where everywhere, they lived like a tribe all of them helping out each other every Faunus never whent a day without food clean water and a warm bed, most Faunus at the time of Roman’s, Ruby’s, Blake’s and Neopolitan’s arival where fishing in a gulf not to far from the landing pad, war ships lined the docks as metal workers hammered out weapons of interesting but intercut in function, the island was full of movement as Faunus of all species went back and forth from fishing boats to huge huts full of fresh fish being salted. Otheres where herding sheep far off in pastures while others worked on the houses. 

Their arrival warrented a few strange looks Ruby was fearful of this many Faunus so stayed glued to Roman’ Side Blake was just as nervous as her small wolf friend but didn’t have anyone to hide behind instead just treading lightly, following the pink white and brown fox as she exspertly lead the four of them though the crowds, followed by a crocodile Faunus acting as a pack mule with all their bags. 

“Come on” the fox mumbled wrapping  an arm around the puppy’s waist and leading her through the surprisingly well organised crowd, with most of them carrying fish in baskets and which attracted the cat Faunus to them, which also lead to neo tapping her with her Paracel to return her attention. 

“What are we even doing here?” Blake asked rubbing her arm in awkwardness. 

“Initially to try and get some of those war ships, but Ruby here needs to get fitted with something” 

“me?” The small puppy asked, looking up from under the fox’s arm hidden slightly by his coat.

”yes you, don’t worry it’ll be ok” he reassured rubbing her shoulder curling his tail around her “completely harmless”

“Will I-“ 

“no we won’t put you in a box, it’s just a new jacket you need to wear” 

“oh” she mumbled hugging his arm, wagging her tail a little “but I already have a jacket?” She asked with a tilted head. 

“It’s a special jacket” 

“oh! Is it going to be red?”

” Errr do you want it to be red?” 

“Yeah!” 

“Well maybe if you ask really nicely they might make it red just for you” 

“Ok!” She chirped much happier now that the road had been cleaned out of most people apart from them and two others that where glaring at them. 

The group of Faunus three willing and one kinda not, walked for at least an hour, Ruby groaning and complaining the whole way with the fox’s hand on her shoulder pushing her along. 

They adventally reached a large manner house, made completely from wood the imposing doors stood before them, but the two foxes where not offected by it. the older, more colourful fox lifted the puma shaped door knocker, slamming it down against its hammer releasing a loud bang that echoed though the house and everyone’s chest cavitys. 

It took five more minutes and two more knocks before someone finally opened the door, there was a tall cat Fauna, her ears wide and pieced with gold, she glared at the beaming fox. “It’s you” she growled pushing the door further open, allowing the group in. “And you brought more, I honestly don’t know what you want” 

“you left and now you came back, you don’t have to come here to pick up the technology you payed for.” The cat Faunus groaned her tail swishing in frustration. 

“That’s not entirely why we’re here, we have someone who I personally think you should meet.” The taller but younger fox spoke up, speaking for his almost mute sister, while he tried to hold an wolf Faunus back. But Ruby vibrating on the spot turned out to be more obvious then Blake skulking behind the two foxes almost out of sight. 

“Yes she’s a very lovely puppy but I don’t understand what she has to do with anything” the cat said with rolled eyes making the ginger fox give her a strange look, until he put two and two together. 

“No no no, Ruby has nothing to do with that, she’s just excited, this is who we wanted you to meet” he corrected grabbing Blake’s arm and pushing her forwards despite her hissing at him. 

But the sight of a face that looked almost identical to her own led the rather furry cat fauna to start tearing up 

* * *

 

“Really you should be thanking Ruby not us” the Fox Faunus smirked sipping on some tea with Ruby curled up at his side “she’s the one who practically threw herself at her” 

“practically was an understatement, I would have fallen over if someone was holding me” the young cat Faunus responded, sipping her tea even though it was obvious that she wasn’t used to the taste at all. 

“I didn’t want anything to happen to you” Ruby mumbled from where she was cuddled up to her fox friend, resting her feet head and entire body with a blanket draped over her to chase away the chill brought on by mystral’s sub zero nights. 

“How exactly do you know these people?” The older cat Faunus asked pouring herself another cup of tea, being one of the only people in the room who likes it, asides from neo but that’s because she’s weird. 

“I know Ruby because her owner is friends with mine, and She constantly needs first aid” the younger cat Faunus replied making the other cat fauna look at her surprised not at the last thing but more of the first thing. “The other two I have no idea about, they kind of appeared out of nowhere pulled me on an airship” 

“you have an owner? What kind of sick practices are going on in the Kingdoms” the older cat Faunus sighed, placing her mug down. 

“Don’t worry, I hate Yang, Ruby has it much better she and Weiss are almost always together, and she gets to eat whatever she wants” 

“Yang’s horrible” Ruby agreed sticking her tongue out, while the ginger fox very carefully stroked across her head like she would bite given the chance. “Weiss was mean aswell though!” 

“Compared to Yang though?” Blake asked with a rather small voice watching as Ruby paused. 

“Weiss is so much better then Yang” she agreed, wagging her tail a little only really accented by the twitching of the blanket. 

“If she’s so bad why didn’t you just run away?” 

“Because she was all I really knew for a really long time, I don’t remember much before her, and the last time I tried, her farther stabbed me” she sighed pushing up her shirt a bit to show a small but deep scar that ran all the way though “it hurt a lot more then, it just itches now” 

That almost made the other cat Faunus puke, Ruby scowled snuggling up to her fox friend, unwanting to think about her friend being stabbed. And the two foxes looked... unbothered, they’ve heard worse things happen to Faunus. Only one fox really had any reaction, and that was more related to Ruby’s reaction, pulling the blanket over her head while she curled up.

”look lady, we brought you your child, and you heard what’s happening in the kingdoms, but what’s going on in Vale is no where near as bad as atlas, and nothing is as bad as Vaccuo” the ginger fox Faunus said, bringing the older cat Faunus’ attention while the other cat sat awkwardly. “Faunus all over remnant are being snatched used for people’s own gain and then just dumped, they’re being forced to work for hours on end, and the ones who aren’t are being treated like they are common animals” 

“The hunters that they relie on have destroyed so much, they murdered the corvis clan they tortured them until they couldn’t live any longer. They burned so many wolf packs out of the forests they relied on, took the children and left the other to die in the fire. They shot cats thinking they’re killing their livestock, they incinerat Faunus that try to cross the border with no ownership. They beat, abuse and defile other Faunus, younger then Ruby, it’s likely what happened to her. And there’s so much more that it would take too long to tell you, but you just sit here unaffected by everything thinking that the kingdoms are at peace” the Fox Faunus said his sister nodding in agreement while Ruby whimpered holding onto the man, still covered in her blanket. 

“What are you trying to accomplish here?” The oldest cat Faunus said sitting up straight her tea disgarded on the coffee table. 

“Not much just your help in battle, a few war ships and perhaps a few soldiers. We’re attempting to take over Vale and we can’t do it with what we’ve already got. Currently there’s three hundred combat grade Faunus running though the capital killing humans, once they’re gone we can take over. Put a stop to the abuse that happens and then we take Vaccuo.” 

“I can’t make that decision without my husband, but I can tell you that if you want to please him your going to have to give him more proof then a scar, even if it was on our own blood’s skin” the cat Faunus sighed “he oversees all military forces on the island, stockpiling since Mystral doesn’t always in force the laws about no human or Faunus being able to come here” 

“by all means we can wait until he returns, we have pictures, and more then enough videos” 

“It should be sufficient to sway his judgment, if it’s any consolation I would give you help but it doesn’t mean much coming from me” the older cat Faunus said giving the two Fox Faunus an sympathetic look. 

“Thank you for your hospitality” the ginger fox replied, still stroking the tiny wolf’s hair even though she was infact asleep “the tea was... something else” he complemented, even though he obviously didn’t like tea. 

“Your too kind, I would do the same for any one of our kind, it’s a shame that humans have to die for our cause but there is little we can do with them” 

“I know the feeling, some good humans might have to die but at the cost of getting rid of the bad ones it’s worth it” he agreed, pulling the blanket over Ruby’s head, bearly disturbing her sleep but she rested in far more peaceful manner. 

“If my husband had any input in what you just said he would probably say something about there being no good humans” 

“there’s a few here and there, some of the older generation still treat us like people others make us wear collars and sleep on the floor” 

“you have no idea, I still remember when there was a bridge between this island and the mystral mainland” the furry cat Faunus chuckled, her fluffy hands clasping her mug. “They blew that thing up the second they realised we didn’t have any patients for them”

“One thing though, we will need to vaccinate every Faunus that leaves this island, for... practically everything” 

“If it’s the best for the spieces I suppose I could arrange for such a thing to happen” 

“I wouldn’t worry about us there’s almost no chance that we carry anything bad” 

“no doubt you don’t if so I would have gone crazy by now” the oldest cat Faunus replied, giving a sweet smile to her daughter who felt particularly awkward in this conversation. 

She did just meet her mother that she had almost no memory of except a shadowy kind figure, she still didn’t really know who this person is, except from the fact she gave birth to her. Her whole life up intill this point had consisted of running away from a terrifying crow who hated her, and hiding from the other two humans she shared a cabin with. A blonde pair one which blabed to her about everything, stuffed her into awful dresses, and trapped her under a washing hamper all day, the other really didn’t care much about her but would happily kick her out the way if she found herself in his path. 

But hey her mother seems rather nice.

“I’m going for a walk” Blake declared with a rather quite voice, slinking off around the corner and then instantly facepalming since that wasn’t the kind of thing she wanted to say. Not much she can do now, atleast she has an excuse to leave the awkward room. 

It was nice to see Ruby after she disappeared for a few days, Blake thought her tail swishing and ears twitching as she sniffed around the room. She couldn’t really believe she was born in a place like this, the house was full of ornate pottery and detailed paintings, the main entrance was split in half by a grand staircase laced with gold and purple drapes hanging from the banister. 

But there was one thing that attracted the cat Faunus, and that was the quite twittering of it a white bird in a cage out on the balcony 

* * *

“Oh there you are Blake” the cat Faunus’ mother said coming out into the balcony “it’s just about time to ea- don’t you dare!” She shouted making the younger cat Faunus jump into the air. 

“ I didn’t do anything!” she shouted as she scrambled inside leaving a startled and ruffled small bird in it’s cage. 

“What’s her problem?” Roman asked, pulling his tiny wolf friend close to him while the house cat who suddenly discovered she can turn into a cheetah sped past . 

“She just tried to eat little chip” the other cat Faunus commented her shock evident in her voice as she cradled a terrified bird in her hands.

”she’s starving, She wouldn’t eat for me, Ruby couldn’t even Convince her to eat” the ginger fox Faunus replied “she’s just been stressed let her wander about and get used to things”

“But she tried to eat chip! She’s a cute bird who would try and eat chip?” The cat Faunus said in shock “She’s not going to try and eat chip is she?” She then said pointing to Ruby. 

“Ruby? She’s never tried to chase a bird if that’s what you mean” he replied truth be told Ruby was only looking at the white bird because she thought it was cute. And was rather happy just looking at it but was even happier when the cat Faunus Presented it to her. 

“When your sister described the fact you had a child who was very dangerous to me I didn’t expect her to be so gentle” the cat Faunus said watching the tiny wolf very lightly stroke the tiny bird’s feathers. 

“Ruby’s a sweetheart, it’s what her aura can do which is dangerous, you don’t want to scare her or make her too angry” 

“What would fear do? It hasn’t been proven to properly manifest an aura, only stimulate it” 

“no she’s just skittish, and if she feels too threatened she will kaboom” 

“manually?” 

“Kinda it’s more of a massive push, I don’t thinks she really knows what she’s capable of doing” 

“Hopefully What we prepared for her will work. Aura technology is still highly experimental, and she’s much smaller then what we exspected.” 

“Aslong as it does the job and doesn’t kill her we’re happy with it” 

“she most definitely won’t be harmed, aura tends not to let their manifestor get hurt at the very least we can remotely activate her aura at the most... hopefully everything needed and a few bells and whistles. Just keep her calm until tomorrow” 

“that I can most certainly do” he smirked ruffling her hair making her stamp her feet huffing at him “don’t give me that fluffy, or I’ll steal your dinner” that made her stop gasping out load. 

“Don’t do that! It’s mean!” She shouted backing away from the bird and then running down the hall to where food was being set out on the grand table, presumably to defend her plate.

”We better go if you leave her alone she will stuff her face until she pops” The fox sighed his tail swishing behind him as he trotted along, his cain tapping against the marble floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Faunus empire used to span the entirety of the mystral contenannt and the whole of sauntus. But with the rise of the hunters it was reduced to a small island just off the cost of mystral. Lead by the descendents of the emperor of the original Faunus empire.


	26. Frosted

If there was one thing that you probably didn’t want to do was probably annoy Ruby. But if you do your in for a surprise. 

Just like a particular ginger haired fox found himself as he pulled his tiny friend into a raptorious cobtraction that looked like it could just lean down and gobble her up with it’s needle teeth. The fox had been half exspecting to have a nasty bite from the tiny wolf and half exspecting her to rip off his hand. 

Instead he just had an annoyed girl mouthing his hand, not really biting, just standing there moving his hand around with her mouth before settling on licking it. “Aren’t you sweet?” He chuckled pushing her towards this machine that hung above her like a cobra ready to strike. “You’ll be fine nothing bad’s gonna’ happen” 

“she’ll be perfectly ok” Kali the cat Faunus reassured watching the wiggling about while she was yanked towards the contraption tethered in front of it by her collar “those disgusting neck ornaments are cruel but sure are handy” the cat Faunus commented motioning to the other cat Faunus standing behind her. 

“It’s pretty much the only reason why we didn’t take it off her, it’s the only thing we can grab onto without hurting her” the fox replied 

“Ruby sweetheart, just stay still this should only feel like a small pinch!” The cat Faunus shouted mashing her hand against a button watching as the monsterious contraption slipped down on its hydroelectrics and chomped down on her, exsented by a high pitched scream. “She has a lot of aura” 

“almost too much in my mind” Roman agreed

”she’s a lovely little girl though, seems a shame to do this” 

“It does but can’t do much about it, she’ll understand when she’s older. It’s not like we have anyone else who can do the things like she can” 

“We’ve found out everything we needed” the cat Faunus then declared deactivating the terrifying machine revealing Ruby standing there shivering. 

“Come here puppy” the fox smiled while the girl cried, clutching onto him like her life depended on it. “Your such a good girl, you shouldn’t be crying your so brave” 

“it was scary” she whimpered 

“Your ok it just gave you a little fright” 

“How about we go get some ice cream?” The cat Faunus suggested with a warm smile. 

“Ok” she whimpered curling her tail as she used her sleeves to wipe her face clean of her slimy nose dribble and her tears but they got quickly replaced much to Tortwick’s disgust as it was wiped on his once clean shirt. 

“Are you going to get up?” cat Faunus then asked to the unbudging wolf. 

“That’s a no” the Fox then added “hang on lazy” he sighed standing up with the girl in his arms. “Let’s go get ice cream”

”it should be a few hours until we configure everything, we just needed her aura levels” 

“I hate those aura readers, I know they have to scare you but even when you know what’s coming it’s still unexpected” 

“otherwise it wouldn’t stimulate your aura properly”

”you could clap your hand a bit too suddenly around her and it will stimulate her aura” he huffed satisfied when his passenger snuggled up to him burying her head in his chest. 

“I prefer our method” the cat shrugged stroking the tiny girl’s back watching her wiggle a little trying to get comfortable.

”it’s a terrible method” he growled flicking his ears.

”It does the job” she shrugged. 

* * *

“When’s your husband going to be back again?” Roman asked with a groan stuck watching his tiny friend slurp up her partially melted ice cream. 

“Tomorrow morning by the last time he contacted me. Why, are you in a rush?”

”not particularly, just my boss is getting itchy about being in Vale.” He replied mindlessly passing his hand through the he girl on his right’s hair. “Apparently half a tone of hunters have fled to atlas including two Schnee’s”

”typical”the cat huffed

”once all their Faunus turned tail and ran they couldn’t fight, the ones who didn’t die, fled, the city centre has been quarantinened though” 

“How did you even get them?” 

“Most of them came willingly, didn’t even complain” he shrugged “the ones who did complain mainly complained since it was the middle of the night... and there was this crazy bird that almost clawed out someone’s eye. we would have taken her but she was... really violent, and she was defending this mangled Faunus that looked like she’s been shoved into a minster and then pushed into this malled Faunus shape” 

“I doubt it would last very long then” the cat Faunus sighed flicking her tail. 

“With that crazy bird protecting it? Honestly I think it might have a chance, some people are just like that, they get really attached to each other and they will do anything for them” 

“I know the feeling” Kali replied with a rather happy sigh “my husband forced me to retire from almost all strenuous activities when I broke my leg a few years ago, he spent a month worrying over me and wouldn’t leave me side. It was rather sweet” 

“that’s nice, all I know is that my sister tolerates me and Ruby loves me because I know her favourite cereal” he replied wrapping his arm around his little friend who looked up at him before wiggling into his side. 

“And your warm” she mumbled 

“and I’m apparently warm” he added rubbing her cheek “honestly Ruby loves everything” 

“as you said, she’s a sweetheart” the cat sighed “as for me Blake tried to claw me this morning, atleast I know she’s mine now” 

“Ruby tired to do that too, but unfortunately for her I don’t have a snooze button” he sighed rubbing phantom pain from his jaw “she kicked me in the face”

”if she does it hard enough it might classify as a snooze button” 

“don’t give her ideas” he sighivered “you might find me unconscious tomorrow” he grumbled as Ruby giggled mischievously. “Don’t give me that sly little smirk” he teased, pulling her closer to him. 

Ruby herself wiggled a little before just settling, her mind in another place she was worried about Weiss, even though she really shouldn’t be. Weiss did something bad she let had people do bad things to her. but out of all the thing Weiss had done for her? 

It was not that bad at all

Ruby couldn’t believe herself, she missed Weiss, she would always be nice to her, she gave her treats and played with her. She wasn’t as bad as Ruby thought she was, she’s done all these good things and just one bad one. 

Ruby really does miss her owner.

she just hopes she’s okay. 

* * *

Weiss has spent most of her day staring up at the ceiling, unable to move her whole body buzzing from the numb ace of the drugs pumping though her body, she struggled to string enough words together to form a sentence but her mind was running a thousand miles per second. 

Her thoughts flashed between so many things that have happened in just the last week, she wasn’t angry, she wasn’t even frustrated. She was worried, out of all the Faunus she’s met out of all the Faunus she’s seen there has been not one that was like Ruby. Sure she was childish but she was thirteen! A tiny little girl who just wanted to please everyone around her. 

Weiss loved the way she would squeak for attention, she liked how she would curl up in her fluffy tail, how she would nuzzle under her arm to check if she was ok, how she would sit down besides her no matter what, she even liked it when she bit people! It felt weird being here without the lovable puppy next to her. 

She was sorry, so sorry that she made her run, she didn’t mean to upset her, she just wanted her Faunus to be safe. She missed Ruby so much. 

Hopfully she’ll come back to her, and even if she doesn’t she just hopes Ruby forgives her. 

Last she heard Winter gathered Ruby’s parents up and ran to Atlas which is where she thinks she is now, it scared her to think that her Faunus was so far away from her. 

She just hopes she’s ok.

* * *

“Come on let’s get you suited up” the Fox coaxed pulling the wolf towards a table “it’ll be ok puppy” he reassured. 

“No” Ruby whined pulling away from his hold. 

“Hey, come on you trust me right? You’ll be ok because I told you, you will be” 

“But... I’m scared, I don’t want to do it” she whined her tail curling up between her legs, she really did miss Weiss more then ever right now. 

“Ruby, you have to do this, this is something only you can do so you have to” 

“But I don’t want to do it... I want Weiss!” the girl cried out but that didn’t seem to make her fox friend happy, instead she was scooped up kicking and screaming placed on a metal table that scarily reminds her of the one at the vet’s not helping this situation at all. 

“I thought you hated your owner? Yet your sitting here crying over her?” The ginger fox growled, which only made Ruby’s whimpering worse.

“What did she do for you? Nothing, she controlled you, used you for your aura and nothing else and you want to go back to her just because she stroked your ears every once in a while?” 

“She didn’t do any of that! She never made me do anything I didn’t want to do Unlike you who keeps forcing me to do things that are scary and could kill me!” Ruby shouted her temper raising above what it’s normally “she did one bad thing but that doesn’t make her a bad person, I shouldn’t have left and I shouldn’t have let Cinder take me to you” 

“what she did was despicable! She practically mutlated you! And you say she isn’t bad? She turned you into a lap dog!” 

“I would much rather be a dog then let that crazy cat lady experiment on me! How is that any different then what your going to do?” 

Just for the note, Kali took offence by that she’s just not important right now. 

“How do you even know what we’re doing!?”

”I have ears you know! I like to use them! And you shout when your drunk!” 

“Well go on then if your that confident” Roman Torchwick criminal by human standards and motivational speaker by Faunus said with a smug face to one very pissed off wolf. 

“YOU WANT TO TURN ME INTO A BOMB! I HATE YOU!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fur has many uses, different species of Faunus use fur in different ways. Some have short some have long, cats use their fur to shield their skin from attacker’s claws, Some Faunus use their fur as communication. Wolf Faunus are especially fuzzy, they have fur on a majority of their back which is uncommon for Faunus. Though they do have a use for this extra fur, they come from mantle, they where bread to pull sleds full of dust when technology was taking it’s first step into it’s technological age, and where kept as primarily work dogs until 100 years ago when a railway was built from the capital (atlas) to the far teachers of the dust mines. Now they are show dogs, sled raceing dogs, lap dogs, work dogs, and trustful companions of hunters since they can adapt to many environments with just a little shave. 
> 
> Not to mention their repretation for extensive Aura reserve, spunky attitude, excellent pack organisation, strong wills, potential for compassion, and their love of snuggles. 
> 
> A perfect Faunus.


	27. Ruby Rose... and possibly a pile of wet paper mush that used to be a box but has been left to the elements for three months

Ironically Running was not something Ruby was especially good at, but she has been doing a surprisingly large amount of it in this last week. In good news she’s not going alone this time, she’s got a friend, his name is chip. actually he might be a girl, he layed an egg, it was quite tasty to Ruby. 

But that’s not important, what is important is the fact that we have a very small lame child running through a crowd of Faunus holding a bird who she thought needed saving. Chip didn’t care, he was just enjoying the view. 

Good thing for Ruby it was the middle of the day, meaning nobody will realise she’s gone for atleast another three hours, which ment she had three hours to get off this island and the thing is about secluded islands is that they tend to not have a way off. And Ruby was just starting to realise this factor.

”slow down child” someone then gruffed grabbing Ruby’s scarf making her yelp, holding her up in the air!“is that chip?” He then asked.

”crazy cat lady” Ruby whimpered holding the tiny bird close, her mother always told her to look after birds. 

“Just calm, I’m not going to harm you, why are you running? Nobody here means you harm” 

“they’re trying to make me kill people, I don’t want to hurt anyone and they want me to, I need to go!” 

“Alright child, but first let’s go have some tea and talk this out” he said walking straight for the place where Ruby didn’t want to be. 

“No! I can’t go back there!” The wolf shouted. 

“You came for there? Kali is trying to get you to kill people?”

”no not her but she’s helping Mr Fox” 

“so there’s a guy who’s trying to make you kill people and my Wife is helping him, But you don’t want to do instead you’re running around like a headless chicken with my wife’s pet bird?” 

“Yes!” Ruby squeaked wiggling more unwanting to be held up in the air for much longer. “I don’t want to go back, please I need to go here!” Ruby said pointing to the tag on her collar. 

“Ah your a pet” he gruffed, his huge fur covered hand, twice the size of Ruby’s head reached to her neck gently with large sausage fingers pulled the tag of the Wolf’s collar up “you belong to a Schnee” 

“no I belong to Weiss” 

“Weiss is a Schnee” 

“I thought she was human” Ruby then muttered squeaking when she was scooped in his arm, Chip still presed to her chest. 

“She is human” he smiled mildly amused by this tiny girl.

”Oh! Is it like how your a cat and I’m a wolf, But we’re both Faunus?” She asked his own tail swishing slightly. 

“Sort of but essentially, and if you belong to a Schnee it shall be important that we return you to your owner” he sighed stroking her back slightly as she was returned to her feet her tail wagging at the idea of going back to Weiss “come along child I shall have you returned to Atlas” 

“Atlas?” Now Ruby was just confused, is that where Weiss lived? She’s talked about Atlas before telling her that’s where her sister normally is, they probably live in the same place. 

After all wolves all live together,maybe Schnee’s do too? Who’s she to know they aren’t regular humans, and even if she finds just Winter, that’s ok! Winter’s really nice, maybe she’ll even take her to Weiss. 

“Come on I’ll take you to the mainland, though i must take Chip off you, Kali will be terribly upset if she finds chip to be gone” honestly? If that was the only condition for going back to Weiss, or quite likely Winter? Ruby would give back Chip any day, Chip was a nice bird but Ruby had more important things to do then play with Chip. 

* * *

Ruby has now discovered another evil in the world, boats. Boats where terrible inventions, they rocked side to side making her head spin, they made loud terrifying crashing sounds that scared her, it spat disgusting salty water at her and she had to wear this annoying orange contraption that made it hard for her to move very well. But Ruby was on a mission, she’ll never give up for as long as she lives. 

“Good girl Rupee” this nice sorta cat Faunus, huffed  patting the tiny wol Faunus’ back. 

“My names Ruby not Rupee” she corrected by he just looked at her strangely. 

“That’s what I just said” he sighed “we’ll be there soon, try to not look so terrified I had to use the only phone on the whole island to contact The Schnee Dust Company, they should be exspecting you in their outpost.” 

“And there it is” he grumbled as Ruby’s new nemesis was pulled up to dock, the tiny wolf gausped in awe at the huge collection of stark white buildings “come on” he sighed easily picking the wolf up helping her off the boat as about twenty armed mantel soldiers marched towards them

”Mr Belladonna we requested that you hand over Miss Schnee’s Faunus, we must identify her” one of these werid soldier guys said coming over to the wolf and rubbing her arm with the front end of his scanny thingy making the hairs on the back of her head prickle up when it beeped “it’s her, Miss Schnee has been worried about you” he sighed giving the young Faunus a small smile, rubbing her head while she yawned.

”can I go to Weiss now?” She asked.

”of course, I think it would really brighten Miss Schnee’ Day” he smiled rubbing her head making her tail wag “good girl, come along now, we’ll ensure you are returned to miss Schnee. We thank you for returning Miss Schnee’s prized Faunus Chef Belladonna” 

“it’s not a problem, she was awfully stressed on the island I don’t think she knew what to do” he smiled his tail swishing slightly “I’ll leave the pup in your care” 

“you have nothing to worry about Chef Belladonna, we’ll fly her out to atlas in a few hours, we just need to prepare the airship and get this girl presentable” the nice soldier with a big gun smiled, still rubbing Ruby’s head which did attract her to him sticking to his side like the good Faunus she is. 

“Come along young one” the soldier said leading the girl away followed by all the other soldiers who dropped their guard once they have realised that this was not a threat. 

“She’s cute isn’t she?” One of the Armored men thingys said.

”probably why the heiress likes her, the girl’s guards said that she couldn’t stop talking about her Faunus” 

“She’s an incredibly nice Faunus though, aren’t wolves supposed to have a incredibly bad temper?” 

“From what I heard she’s been spayed and ran off when she found out. But Faunus who get sterilised tend to calm down a lot” 

“Don’t you have a Faunus?” 

“No I don’t I just have a dog, but wolves Dogs same things she seems to like the ear tickles” 

“all Faunus like ear tickles, well all good Faunus that is.” 

“Come on let’s get you inside and then get some food in you” a soldier smiled pushing the fluffy Faunus into the main building, sitting rather hunched over in the middle of a forest of towering building spikes. It was just a big room with petitions, There where a few Faunus in this main room instantly making all the fur on Ruby’s body stand on end. Quite a few Faunus where reptiles and that always made Ruby a bit sceptical of their capablity to rip her head off. 

“Bunch of lazy idiots these guys” one of the soldiers sighed, almost kicking his way through the prowling Faunus, all of them where trying their best to get a good sniff of the tiny Faunus who didn’t want anything to do with them. Luckily for her she had an ontraurge of twenty Faunus shooers, ushering the semi wild Faunus away from the girl.

”I think you really shouldn’t be trying to feed Miss Schnee’s Faunus the food in here” 

“well it’s the only stuff in here that’s faunus safe, what else can we feed her that won’t make her sick?”

”she’s a wolf Faunus they can eat raw meat and not get a stomach ache, I would say there’s quite a few things she could eat” 

“I’m not going to eat that” Ruby then declared turning her nose up at the meaty mush one of her escorts pulled out of a fridge.

She would have ate it, say five months ago when it was in date, but now she could smell how bad the meat was and she would refused to go near that even if she was starving animal. Which is technically what she is. 

Mr Fox thaught her many things, she just hopes most of them weren’t  lies. 

“I think you shouldn’t feed a growing girl Faunus Mulch”

”she’ll be fine”

”she’s already said she wouldn’t eat it” 

This debate lasted around an hour started with mulch and ended with cereal, but I can’t be bothered to actually tell you what happened and I believe that when things are boring all you need is a little bit of sparkle. 

And by sparkle I mean swallowing fireworks, but if you don’t want to do that I’ll provide you with an ill placed time skip. 

* * *

“ she really likes you” 

“she likes everyone” the soldier who I’m going to name spatula purely because of auto correct, and as this one particularly identical clone of the same person who is currently very rich off selling his identity and DNA, becomes more and more related to.. nothing? 

Spatula isn't very useful, he seems to just flip things on their head. 

...

no? Nothing? Not even a little giggle? I thought that was pun-tastic. 

“Yeah she but she likes you a lot” this one other guy said who is not spatula despite looking sounding and dressing exactly like spatula. 

“Told ya, wolves Dogs, same thing, all love ear tickles” spatula smirked yelping slightly when Ruby whacked him with her tail, she wanted to go see Weiss now, not sit around in a place like this listening to a load of guys with guns grumble about their life. 

They where right about the ear tickles though, Ruby did like them but they didn’t touch her favourite scratching spot. And that made her slightly frustrated, she was frustrated to begin with anyway, she’s a thirteen year old Faunus practically a puppy not even close to adulthood in seven years, being pulled every which way by a bunch of friends who she doesn’t even like. Apart from spatula, he’s nice. 

“Did you talk to specialists Schnee?” 

“Yeah, I sent some pictures aswell and she confirmed it was young Miss Schnee’s Faunus, she also said to not let her run around, whatever that means” 

“Well she is the Faunus specialist, didn’t she get two new Faunus?” 

“Yeah apparently they both belong to a huntress but the huntress whent missing” 

“They aren’t exactly new either, one of them is almost blind”

This is how it has been for the last hour for Ruby, sitting next to spatula while he combed through her hair with his fingers, Ruby desperately trying to not let the loud humming and the jostle of the airship get to her. The temperature was starting to drop aswell, Sure Ruby’s kind was built for cold climates But the coldest Ruby’s ever gotten was when it snowed on patch, but even then she had two warm parents to snuggle up to besides a makeshift camp fire. Snow was plastering the windows at this point plunging the whole cabin in a dim artificially brightened room that Made Ruby’s eyes ache. 

She would just love to get up at this point in time but she was kinda stuck in this hunched, laying down position like she was some kind of dog, strapped down because her balance is terrible and she was knocked around like a tennis ball thrown in a wooden box as soon as the ship took off. Atleast they didn’t put her in a box like they did to all the other Faunus, said Faunus who are all stacked up on top Of each other. acting as a massive wall of Faunus crates all of them in veriying stages of “LET ME OUT OF HERE” while Ruby enjoyed three seats all to herself and a pillow. 

Sure Ruby didn’t regard herself as privileged, but with how she was being treated she thinks she is, she never thought Weiss was so important, and she never knew that made her sorta important.

Weiss once told her that Faunus are not just pets they’re more like friends that you take care of so when you really need them they will help you any way they can. Ruby was proud to be Weiss’ Faunus, she’s not going to let Mr Fox take that away from her no matter how hard he tries. 

He doesn’t have any idea how good of an owner Weiss is anyway, she’s the best. 

And with the jolt of the ship the animalistic screams and the squeak of Ruby when spatula fell on her, she would say that the ship has landed. 

“Come on fluffy, let’s get you to your owner” spatula sighed, releasing the girl from her seats and leadinging her out of the ship and towards a huge building caked in snow. Her tail wagging the whole time as she was practically carried up stairs towards this place it was quite the halls smelled funny and there was a guy following her with a vacuum cleaner though the further in she whent she started to really question this place. 

“Faunus aren’t normally allowed in here, but you’re an exception” a soldier sighed, as we came across a door with about eight guys with huge guns that have bullets and go pew pew where standing by. 

I don’t know a lot about guns. 

“That her?” One asked and after getting confirmation like the others did, aka stroking her arm creepily with a stick that felt funny, Ruby was allowed to slip into the room with relative silence. 

Ruby’s eyes widened at the sight before her, there her owner, her life, her master, her goddess lay, surrounded by gold embellished pillows, her hair left splayed like silky white tree roots, her lower hidden by the light covers as she lay awake, her eyes as vibrant as the waters surrounding anima flicking across the pages of a book clasped in her pale hands. The only problem was that there was something stuck into her wrist Ruby thought it must be uncomfortable to have something in her arm like that. 

“Weiss” Ruby whimpered hopping up onto the bed making it’s occupant jump slightly.

”Ruby?” She asked the word slipping out of her lips like a song bird’s declaration. A smile tugged at her face as this young woman saw this curious little Faunus approach. “Ruby you little mischievous puppy, I knew you would come back” she sighed happily, pulling her Faunus over relishing the squeak she made, over joyed by her giggles as she was rolled onto her back practically tickled to death. 

The little Faunus girl’s tail wagging so fast one of the soldier’s barged through the door mistaking a gun was being fired for Ruby’s tail hitting the bed as fast as machinegun fire.the heiress struggled for a moment , propping herself up on one arm to use the other to wrap Ruby up in a hug, the tiny Faunus  smiled happily sighing in joy until she felt tingling. “Hold on puppy I just need a little bit of aura” she mumbled. 

“Why though? It feels weird” she whined being held still by her owner. 

“Because I got hurt” she sighed laying back down with a smile on her face, a rare thing for Weiss. “I’m sorry for doing that to you munch, I only wanted it for your best interest” 

“it felt weird though, I felt really bad and it hurt, you where mean about it too” she whined as the thingling sensation stopped, and she was released from the hug but instead she curled up next to her owner, resting her head on her chest. 

“I know I was a little mean but you feel better now, don’t you? And you’ve been such a good girl since” Weiss smiled scratching just at Ruby’s favourite scratch spot making it he girl lick the air with comfortable pleasure. 

“I’m a good girl? Even though I ran away?” Ruby asked shocked. 

“Of course your a good girl, you ran away but you also came back, you’ll always be a good girl because of that. I could never be angry at you for running away because of something like that, I would have ran away if that happened to me aswell” Ruby’s goddess sighed happily making the wolf’s tail wag even faster “to be honest, I’m just glad your back, I’ve missed you my little gem” 

“I’ve missed you too” Ruby whimpered curling her tail as her owner tucked her under the sheet. Cuddling the girl close to her chest, stroking her ears scratching behind them every once in a while until someone entered. 

“Miss Schnee, it’s ok I’ve already seen her” he smiled “you need her for your recovery anyway” 

“Thank the Gods” the heiress sighed pulling the sheet away from her faunus’ face “Ruby’s very well trained anyway she’ll never cause trouble” 

Ruby just sat up very surprised when this man manovered around her rubbing her head ever once in a while until she swiped at his hand “I thought you said she was well trained” 

“she is, she just doesn’t like people messing up her fur” the heiress smirked, pulling Ruby towards her by her collar fishing out a comb from besides her bed and very carefully brushing her hair back into a set place. “She likes having her ears brushed though” 

“I have a wolf Faunus aswell, but she’s a race dog, she would never sit with anyone like that” 

“Ruby could never run long enough for a race”

”lazy?”

”lame, I can’t have her running about anyway, not particularly ideal for someone who stays in the same spot during battle” Weiss sighed hugging her Faunus surprising the doctor when she nuzzled into her owner the soothing rattle of what was thought to be a grumble but was actually a weird purr. “Aww puppy” 

“she’s impure, she’s a wild dog?” 

“Yes, I picked and trained her myself. She’s more wolf then anything else but she’s got a lot of cat in there” Weiss smiled scratching this perky puppy’s neck smirking at the cute whine she released when she stopped “you say that she’s wild like it’s a bad thing, she’s so young you wouldn’t realise otherwise until she does something strange” 

“typically wild dogs attack their owners, and struggle to recognise one thing from a completely different thing” 

“Ruby doesn’t have many problems she may have been born wild but her parents where both Faunus who where raised by humans. She can read and wright, she can fish, she can climb up sheer surfaces and she can paint... porly but it was an interesting experience to see her try” Weiss smirked, while her Faunus prowled over her feet until she curled up on her legs enjoying a few little scratches while this doctor did his weird voodoo magic called dust science including but not exclusively. 

Prancing about holding dust crystals

rubbing crystals and chanting an incantation

making Ruby sneeze hundreds of times over when dust spreaded across the room

Rubbing Weiss with said dust crystals 

and finally using Ruby’s aura to activate a crystal and shove it into Weiss’ back

”I wouldn’t do anything too strenuous Miss Schnee, the wound that Faunus gave you was nothing to sneeze at, I’m surprised you still have feeling in your legs after that” he sighed, “you should infuse the wound with aura once or twice a day your heeling should be far swifter now a more compatible Faunus has arrived” 

“thank you, i would also like to take a viewing of the gardens at some point tomorrow, Ruby requires controlled exercise once a day.”

”Are you sure that would be wise? The gardens we possess are nowhere near the ideal place to exercise a Faunus” 

“she just likes flowers, she only needs a small walk anyway she’s far too lazy for anything else” 

“Alright Miss Schnee I’ll arrange something for you” he sighed before leaving the two alone. 

“I ate an egg today!” Ruby chirped her tail wagging “I caught a bird and it layed it in my hand so I ate it and it was tasty”

”strange girl you are, maybe I should give you raw egg some other time” she smiled rubbing her Faunus’ side as she rolled about a bit more until she got comfortable “apparently it’s good for your fur, perhaps it’ll get even softer” 

“what’s wrong with my fur? Would would you want it to be different?” 

“Your fur is perfect, I simply mean that it could be better, and make you warmer” Weiss smiled watching her Faunus yawn slightly “come here, you’ll get a cough like that” 

Ruby huffed slithering up the bed like a dog snake using her hands to push her through the mess if thick blankets until she was at a surficant place for Weiss to wrap an arm around her. “Does this mean I can sleep on the bed now?” Ruby asked her shimmering silver hopeful puppy dog eyes staring into her owner’s soul.

”I suppose, it’s not my problem if your fur gets everywhere anymore” she sighed rubbing her little faunus’ Head “it’s not like there’s anywhere else for you to sleep, and I refuse to make you sleep on the cold floor” 

“Yay” Ruby cheered tiredly, slipping under the covers and assuming the position she usually is in when Weiss lets her sleep on the bed. Aka curled up in a tight ball cuddled close to her owner’s chest, only this time, this singular time in the whole of remnant from the fridged waters of mantle to the blazing sands of Vacuo. 

From beyond the clouds that concealed this act, beyond the stars that whispered their last dieing light, drowned out by dust lamps and car lights, still flickering strong in the blinded darkness, from even beyond then. 

Ruby was the only and probably the first Faunus in the possible whole of Faunus kind to generally find joy in her owner, to like being huddled up next to her. 

After-all cardboard never made a good shelter, but once you gain a fear of boxes you learn that you are far more then just a stinky stray in a box. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Space travel has been particularly limited during humanity’s time on remnant, the best they got was firing missiles into the air and being surprised when they didn’t come back down. But once thing they do know is that dust, their only reliable power source, doesn’t work outside the atmosphere.


	28. End... or is it?

Hi, it’s me your glorious narrator and writer, i have come here today to exsplain a few things...  like this little foot note 

**READ THE END NOTES AND THINGS MAKE SENSE**

and that’s all I have to tell you, oh and that I will be checking the chapters through once I get WiFi back and that there will be a sequel since this book alone exceeded my expectations far beyond what I expected. 

I expected far more hate then a few “I have no idea what’s going on” and this one guy who hates Faunus... dirty racists pollock. 

Faunus are people too! 

But anyway, things will be exsplained, apart from the things that I won’t exsplain because I’m lazy and I can call it suspense to be annoying. 

Btw, to the one guy who I freaked out, “Beware team WOLF” is a quote from one of my old fanfics, the group of incompetent assassins known as team WOLF Probably won’t return. And if you get that reference good on you, now stop stalking me. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody knows how many species of Faunus there is, there could be millions, but what they do know is that the dragon Faunus no longer exists after being skinned alive for their fire proof skin


End file.
